


Like Romeo and Juliet...Except Gayer

by surviving_and_thriving



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Keith and Lance live next to each other, Lactose Intolerant Keith (Voltron), M/M, Shiro is Keiths parent, but not biologically lmao, enjoy an actual plot now lads, for some reason, i am a hoe for the fake dating trope so guess what ur getting ;))), i funneled my hate for calculus into this bad boi, lol this started as fluff, matt is the same age as the rest of them bc i love him and want him to be part of the #action, shiro and adam are official official adults and work at the school, then evolved, they go to garrison high bc i am not creative, we getting gay now lads, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-07-29 11:13:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16263035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surviving_and_thriving/pseuds/surviving_and_thriving
Summary: Keith lives next to Lance and life progresses from that fact





	1. Chapter 1

Keith lived next door to Lance McClain, which wasn't a commonly known fact. Sure, most people knew where Lance lived because Lance hosted tons of parties and his parents were heavily involved with the Garrison, but no one really came over to Keith’s house. Keith didn't mind. He never missed a pilot party because he couldn't, even if he wanted to. Lance knew where Keith's window was (because it faced Lance’s bedroom window), and he would throw rocks at Keith's window until Keith opened it and agreed to come over.

Keith wasn't too antisocial, so the throwing rocks at the window thing has happened only twice. One time had been while Keith had been studying for a chemistry test, and he had almost started pelting Lance with his own fucking rocks for interrupting him.

Keith was in his room then, at his desk and trying, and failing, to think about calculus. The thing about calculus is that it isn’t interesting to think about, and also Keith’s desk looked out the window. The window that faced Lance's house, to be specific. Keith's room actually had more than one window, despite the myth Lance spread about Keith being the tall, Asian version of Harry Potter. Keith didn't live in a tiny cupboard under the stairs in Lance's house. He was just over at Lance's house a lot, because Lance's house had ice cream. Actual, real, milk-included, ice cream. It was great. Even if Keith was lactose intolerant, sometime, a boy just needs some ice cream.

It was not great when Keith really needed to do his calculus homework and all he could think about was Lance. Less that twenty feet away, visible through two panes of glass and making out with his girlfriend of the week. Keith wasn't sure why he was paying attention to Lance making out with some girl. It wasn't like she was super important. None of Lance's dates ever turned out to be particularly important. Lance went through dates like Hunk went through recipes for a bake sale. Keith pushed his bangs away from his forehead. So what if Lance constantly had dates? Keith wasn't jealous.

Okay, he was a little jealous, but only because it just didn't seem fair. Lance wasn't even that attractive, except that he was. Lance was eighteen years old and had somehow managed to get through the first half of the maturity process unscathed by acne or awkward baby fat hanging on to just his face. Lance was attractive, way too attractive for a eighteen year old, and Keith was jealous.

Because Keith wasn't ugly, but he was a weird-looking baby deer of a guy and his hair was too long and he is sure he is accidentally rocking a mullet (but haircuts are expensive and Keith just doesn’t want to deal with that). Keith was pretty sure that rocking the “bad boy” look was supposed to get him hot points with people, but it hadn't. Not yet. Maybe he was just too emo for hot points and he was intimidating instead. Maybe all the available guys at school were afraid he would step on them or something. He wouldn’t though. He only dressed like that because it’s easy and he read something about Steve Jobs wearing the same thing and it made him super smart.  Keith was still waiting on the smart part to kick in for him.

Keith dropped his head onto his desk, because it had been twenty minutes and he still hadn't done any calculus. He had just been spacing out and thinking about anything not related to math, and maybe that was why he was struggling in math. Or maybe it was because math just sucked. Math sucked a lot and Keith wanted to start a petition to ban it from reality forever.

He didn't know if that was possible, but he knew he had to try. Even if he couldn't free himself from the horrible hell of calculus, he had the chance to free all his younger friends.

Keith's phone buzzed, rattling the desk, and Keith raised his head up off the desk to see who had texted him. It was Lance, which Keith hasn't been expecting at all. He had thought that Lance's girlfriend was over, and therefore holding all of Lance's attention.

From: Meme-me-up-Scotty: hey come over now

Keith rolled his eyes. Not even a “please come over, Keith.” Just a “get over to my house immediately.” And Keith would, because any excuse to not do math homework was a good excuse, even if Lance was over dramatic and ridiculous and self centered and kind of a jerk. He was entertaining and not math homework, and right then, that was all Keith wanted. Something not math homework, or math homework related.

“Shiro, I'm going over to Lance's!” Keith called out as he was walking down the stairs. He hadn't bothered with shoes since it was early September and Lance's house was super close anyway.

“Are you done with your homework?” He called back. Keith paused on the stairs. “Yeah, I'm going over to help Lance with some English thing!”

“Alright, have fun!” And that was that. Keith didn't like lying to Shiro (despite being kind of boring and not understanding that pizza was a very important part of life, even if the cheese would betray him later), but he had to sometimes. Like when Lance demanded attention and Keith was avoiding math homework. Or when Lance was having a party but it wasn’t Shiro approved and Keith had to convince him to not be at home so that he wouldn't call the cops when something weird (like Matt and Pidge launching rockets off the roof) happened. Keith didn't want his friends getting in trouble just because they had a different idea of fun.

Keith locked the door as he left and then made his way through the grass to Lance's back door. Lance was sitting on his back porch, waiting for Keith and holding two glasses of what looked like Coke. Keith hope it was Coke. It was a Tuesday. There was no good reason to be drinking stolen alcohol on a Tuesday afternoon. It wasn't even finals week.

Keith accepted the Coke anyway, because he was a good friend (in theory). He started to sit down next to Lance because sometimes Lance liked doing his dramatics outside, or even in the pool, but Lance stood up and, without a word, dragged Keith all the way up to his bedroom. Lance sat his Coke down on his desk before launching himself at his bed and hitting it with a muffled scream. Keith just lifted an eyebrow and took a sip from his glass.

Lance turned himself over so that he was laying on his back and threw one of his arms over his face. Keith took another sip of Coke. Lance groaned, dramatically. “What is it about me that makes me undateable?”

Keith Kogane then kept all of his remaining dignity by not spewing the Coke he had just drank, instead finishing it like the functional human being he pretended to be and asked, “What does that even mean?”

“I am, by mere definition, a bisexual.” Lance still had his arm over his face. His other arm was gesturing above him, but in a half-hearted way. Like he didn't actually want to gesture around, but he was too gay to keep his hands still for more than three seconds. “Statistically speaking, the only people who wouldn't want to date me are straight guys and lesbians. I admit that there are a surprising amount of lesbians in this school, but there are an equal amount of gay guys. And bi people. And straight girls are fucking everywhere,  _ my god _ .”

Keith nodded. There were a surprising amount of straight girls in their high school. That was part of the reason Keith didn't make a big deal about his sexuality. He didn't need a flock of extremely straight girls following him around and asking him if he thought they looked fetch.

Wait, no, fetch was the thing from Mean Girls. Keith was thinking of fierce.

“Are you even paying attention to me?” Lance asked, removing his arm from his face and sitting up. Because Lance had the abs to go from laying down to sitting up without arms and without a struggle. Fucker. Lance threw a pillow at Keith, but missed because Lance's aim sucked when he was being dramatic. “I am having a crisis!”

“Sorry, I was thinking about Mean Girls .” Keith said. 

Lance rolled his eyes. “Boo, you whore.”

Keith smiled, despite himself. Lance could probably quote that entire movie if he really wanted to. It was one of his many talents. Keith moved over to sit down on the edge of Lance’s bed, patting Lance’s ankle with his free hand. “Go on, tell me about your crisis.”

“People keep breaking up with me after two weeks.” Lance said. “It’s like, they get me for the free trial, but when I actually want to commit to a real relationship, they’re not interested. I’m willing to pay for the date, I’m not broke! What do these people want from me, Keith? Am I just arm candy to them? What am I?”

“You’re Lance McClain.” Keith said, removing his hand from Lance’s ankle and taking another sip of his Coke. It was only Coke, which was good, because Keith still had to do calculus, except now it was going to have to be secret calculus because he told Shiro he was already done with his homework and he wasn’t about to get in trouble over a single piece of calculus homework. He was better than that.

Lance hit him with a pillow. “That doesn’t help me, now does it?”

“Okay, that’s valid.” Keith nodded. “But maybe, don’t come off as a show me around the school and pretend to be in love with me to make your ex angry kind of guy next time.”

“Good plan. How do I do it?”

Keith paused. He had absolutely no dating experience, because he was still a little bit in the closet and he didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on another guy. Lance, however, had almost all the dating experience, but he was known for being the one to use when you need to make a point, and having low standards in general. He wouldn’t date someone if they were butt ugly (because Lance was a vain little shit and everyone knew it) or super insecure about themselves (because Lance was an impatient little shit and everyone was starting to know it), but if someone asked him out, he rarely said no. Keith couldn’t come up with anyone who had been rejected by Lance.

Keith shrugged. “I don’t know. Raise your standards?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I’m trying to get an actual date, not be perpetually single like you are. My standards are high enough as it is. I don’t need to raise them.”

“I’m not perpetually single.” Keith said defensively. “I just don’t want to date anyone right now. It’s a personal choice.”

“That’s just another way to say perpetually single, dude.” Lance said. He rolled over onto his side, closer to Keith, and Keith scooted away from him. Not because he was afraid to be close to Lance, but just because he was pretty sure Lance wanted some personal space. Maybe. Keith didn’t know how Lance worked half of the time.

“We should do something.” Lance said. Keith stared down at him. “It’s a Tuesday.”

“So?”

“So what exactly are we supposed to do? We’re underage, Pidge and Hunk are at robotics, and the only interesting places open on a Tuesday are too far away to walk.” Keith said. He wasn’t mentioning that he had a car, even though he was pretty sure that Lance already knew. Because the bad thing about having a car was that it needed gas, and gas was expensive as all get out. Keith had a part time job at the Subway near the high school, but Subway didn’t pay a lot and Keith didn’t have a lot of gas money. Lance never paid gas money. Keith knew that Lance had money, somewhere, but he had no idea what he did with any of it.

For all Keith knew, Lance was hosting a secret fight club in his basement. Keith considered that idea for a moment, but realized that he would have noticed if there were people filtering in and out of Lance’s basement, or if Lance suddenly started looking all bruised and shit. Keith was observant. Sometimes.

Lance poked Keith in the side. “Don’t you have a car?”

“I don’t have any gas.” Keith said. That was a lie. He did have gas, he just didn’t have a lot of it and he was trying to conserve it so that he could drive to school and not have to take the bus. The bus sucked, because he and Lance lived far away from school and so they were the first stop on the route. The bus came at around six in the morning. Keith did not want to be awake at six, let alone be getting on a bus then.

Lance, however, seemed to be above the human need for sleep and therefore took the bus every day. Lance was not even judged for not taking the bus, because he could just as easily ride to school with Keith. He just chose not to.

Lance moved closer to Keith, again. Keith didn’t move away this time because he didn’t want to fall off the bed and he was pretty sure that if he gave Lance some space, he would fall off. And that would be embarrassing. Keith knew that he was embarrassing, but he tried to avoid doing obviously embarrassing things, such as falling off his friend’s bed.

Lance poked Keith again. “I’ll pay for the gas if you take me to the movies.”

“Why would I take you to the movies?” Keith asked. “Lance, if I don’t have any money for gas, there’s no way I have money for a movie. What movie would we even watch?”

“I don’t know, I just need to do something that isn’t laying on my bed and being a teenage girl.” Lance rolled his eyes. “And even crap movies are fun. I can pay for crap movies.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “You’re not seriously going to make me watch a bad movie, are you? I have things to do.”

“Oh yeah?” Lance sat up, and he was really close to Keith’s face. His blue eyes were a few inches above Keith’s brown ones, because Keith was really fucking short, even sitting down, but it still had the same effect. Keith could feel all the heterosexuality draining from the room. Keith hadn’t even considered liking Lance as a possibility up until then, and… well. Whoops. Maybe he should have considered that earlier, because the worst time to discover you have a latent crush on your friend is when he’s literally three inches away from your face.

Lance crunched his spine down to try and get to Keith’s height. Keith tried to breathe. Lance narrowed his eyes. “What kind of things? Boring, school things? Or actual interesting things that you actually want to do?”

“Okay I didn’t do my calc homework, fuck you.” Keith said, and then shoved Lance back because he needed the fucking space. He needed the space to not be gay. He was going to be gay whether Lance was three inches or three feet away, but he could be non-Lance-centric gay if Lance was farther away.

Lance laughed at him. Because Lance was an asshole. Keith had a sudden crush on an asshole. Keith was not a fan of himself. This was incredible. Keith was not going to let anyone know that he had a sudden crush on Lance because he was a senior in high school and if he could survive until graduation he would be fine. He would be just fine (he would not be okay).

“Come on, you meme, I'll even buy you popcorn.” Lance got up off the bed and started tugging on the sleeve of Keith's shirt. Keith rolled his eyes. “I'll buy my own damn popcorn.”

“No you won't, because you’re my ride and I'm not going to let you buy your own popcorn.” Lance continued tugging and Keith stood up because he recognized that resistance was futile at that point. He looked down at his feet. “I don't have shoes.”

“Oh my God, how are you still alive?” Lance threw his head back dramatically and strode over to his closet. He threw the doors open and dropped down, looking through the bottom of the closet for who knew what. A few moments later, he reappeared with a pair of worn Vans that Keith recognized as his own. Keith frowned. “How do you have those? I lost them when we went on the Space Center trip.”

“You didn't. I packed them by mistake and just never bothered to tell you.” Lance said. He threw the shoes, as well as a pair of white ankle socks, that Keith assumed were clean. Keith put them on, surprised that the socks actually fit. He looked up through his hair at Lance. “I’d call you an asshole, but you’re buying me food.”

Lance smirked. He reached over and ruffled Keith’s hair, which was fine because it wasn’t as though Keith tried to style his hair in a particular way or anything. He just kind of let his hair happen however it wanted to happen. So Lance fucking it up didn’t truly fuck it up.

“See, this is why we’re such good friends.” Lance said. “You get me.”

Keith stood up, “No, I just put up with you.”

“Same thing.” Lance shrugged. He tugged on Keith’s shirt again, pulling him out of the bedroom. “Come on, bad movies and overpriced popcorn await.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but only because Lance was still looking at him. He was actually looking forward to the movie, partially because Lance had a totally different taste in movies from Keith, and so Keith often liked the movies that Lance considered “bad” (unless they were objectively horrible and then Keith suspected that no one actually liked them and he wondered how a movie that terrible even made it to theaters). He was also looking forward to the movie because it would give him some time to figure this whole attraction to Lance out.

Keith knew, on some level, that Lance McClain was attractive. Duh. He also knew that he was a little attracted to Lance, because it explained why he put up with the guy for so long. He just hadn’t expected the attraction to shift from yeah, alright, that’s an attractive person, cool, to something that wasn’t very subtle. At all.

Keith could hide his crush, though. He was hiding his sexuality pretty well. He wasn’t super out, and he didn’t act very flamboyant, and no one questioned why he never dated anyone. He would be fine. He just needed to figure out just how much he liked Lance.

He wasn’t going to mention it to Lance, because he knew better than to feed Lance’s ego. There was no way that Lance liked him, because Keith would know. Lance didn’t hide his attractions to people. He was confident enough in himself that he could just walk up to his crush of the week, ask them out, and have a date. It was something that Keith would never have. Probably. Some kind of miracle could happen, and Keith could grow out of his awkward phase, but for now he was stuck as Lance’s gayer wingman.

Honestly, he didn’t mind it that much. At least he was getting free food. What more could any broke teenager ask for?


	2. Chapter 2

“Hello?”

Keith jolted awake at the call, not looking up from his hunched position over a stack of papers, a post-it note stuck to his cheek that comprised of equations. Someone had entered his den of studying and that was punishable by death, or at least death glares. He had a schedule to be keeping to, and dumping bodies could not accounted for within his 30 minute ‘leisure’ time.

Shaking his head, Lance fully entered the room and looked at his disaster of a neighbor and friend.

“It’s only me, you know, the only person who would know that you’re still awake at 2:00 in the morning.”

Running a hand through his hair, Keith brushed off the insult and waved to Lance absentmindedly, muttering to himself in a way that would rival any crazy person.

Not that Keith would ever tell the taller man, but the constant presence of the younger boy worked wonders for his mood when he was wondering what in his life led him to try to graduate with all AP classes. Also, he was still gay for Lance.  Very, very gay. It was painful, but not as painful as trying to learn a semester worth of material in one night.

And not that Lance would ever admit it, but he enjoyed having the older boy as a quiet presence that let him decompress and just enjoy the silence they held when watching films on their predestined “movie night” once a week. It was soothing just to lie on a sofa and not worry about entertaining anyone or being judged by anyone.

Well Keith judged him, but that was allowed.

Speaking of Keith.

“Does math count as a language? Can you say I’m bilingual because I speak in _code_?” the boy on the couch finally raised his head to look up at his unimpressed neighbor. The beseeching eyes were what made the other man respond, keeping his arms folded and fighting to hide his twitching lips.

“No, but honestly, binary code should count.” Lance tried to appease Keith down from his obvious closeness to a mental breakdown.

He sat down on an armchair that was undisturbed by the rest of the mess and tried valiantly not to stare at his neighbor, who was obviously suffering through his finals session.

Groaning, Keith lay his head down onto the pile of papers: “I’m never going to remember all of this by Thursday, it’s already Wednesday…technically” his muffled voice came through, distorted by the papers.

Lance leaned over and delicately peeled the sticky note of the cheek of the despairing boy, looked at it and asked, “Would this help?”

Grabbing it, Keith said, “I’ve been looking for that for over an hour, I thought putting on myself would make me remember it more easily.  You know, like diffusion.”

Huffing out a laugh, Lance shook his head and shrugged, having no answer to this near flawless logic he was being confronted with.

Lance was so happy that all of his exams had been practical this semester, and that he was already done since the coursework deadline finished a week before the exams began.

Seeing Keith look so small in his oversized sweatshirt made a jolt of protectiveness go through the other man, like he wanted to bundle him up in blankets and refuse to let his tiny boyfriend out into the world. FRIEND. Keith was Lance’s friend, nothing more. He’s got to remember that.

After a few more minutes of trying to get Keith to accept that he needed sleep and that it wasn’t the smartest idea to stay awake all night, Lance managed to get Keith into his bed, and off to sleep.

Lance honestly felt more than a little creepy watching his friend sleep, but he couldn’t make himself leave just yet.  

Keith was attractive, Lance would let himself admit that, with his dark, brooding look, but it was quite obvious that the older boy did not feel the same way about him. Lance knew he was too easy, knew that no one ever really wanted to date him. But Lance wanted a real relationship. He wanted to go out on dates and be cheesy and love someone and be loved in return. And if he was being honest with himself, the person he always envisioned when he thought about his future relationships was Keith.

Trying, and failing to shake the thoughts from his head, Lance left the house, his mind still on the boy sleeping next door.

 

* * *

 

The next morning Lance was feeling the effects of staying up late, and he hadn’t even been studying.  He wondered how Keith was faring.

As if an answer to his unasked question, Keith sat down next to Lance in homeroom, poured a monster energy drink into his coffee said “I’m going to die” and drank the whole thing.

"Um, okay, that ain’t safe cowboy," Lance said, turning to the other boy and offering his bottle of water, placing a reassuring arm around him, just as the teacher walked into the room and began talking about upcoming sports events and Christmas break, which was fast approaching, quickly cutting off any other communication.

* * *

 

The next time Lance saw Keith, he was in the lunchroom, sitting alone, and staring off into the distance, no food in front of him, just another can of monster, Keith was sipping from it gingerly and wincing every once and awhile.

“Well at least you’re not pouring it in your damn coffee this time,” Lance laughed, placing his plate down next to Keith, causing him to jump, but once he recognized who it was, he smiled at the light-hearted joke.

“You’re not my parents, you can’t tell me what to do!” Keith poked his tongue out at Will in a mocking tone, “Besides, that hurt like a bitch and I think I’m still coming down from that high, I think Pidge would be proud of me.”

Speak of the devil and they shall appear, thought Lance as Pidge waltzed into the lunch room dragging Hunk behind them.

“Well hello there my friends!” Pidge slid into a seat opposite Keith and Lance “How are you guys surviving this lovely exam season?”

Lance looked at Keith accusingly, “Well this idiot here decided to stay up until 2 a.m. last night, then drink a Monster coffee this morning, and another now.”

Pidge almost looked proud, before Hunk mentioned how Shiro would react to this news.

Keith laughed.

“You guys think Shiro would care about this? He’s the one who gave it to me. It’s a time honored tradition to drink one during every exam season.  I’m pretty sure he’s has at least four this week.”

“Jesus Christ, your family needs to maybe chill.”

Lance piped up at that point, “Speaking of actually relaxing, we are watching a movie the second you finish finals, Keith.  You need to chill and not have to do anything for at least three hours.”

“Yes, please.  But I’m picking the movie.”

Lance laughed, then deadpanned.

“No you aren’t”

* * *

 

Lance watched his neighbor curse at the xbox game on the television as he entered Keith’s living room that night where Keith was sitting, plopping on the sofa next to him with a big bundle of pillows and a couple of dvds wrapped up in the comforter from his bed. They were finally having their night in. Lance was fresh from the shower and in sweats, all ready to watch movies with Keith but he would just watch Keith do this for now. They had plenty of time.

"Come here Kosmo." He called for the black and white, pointy-eared dog that Keith had so lovingly declared his "spirit hound" and Kosmo jumped up on the couch, settling in next to him almost instantly. "Come watch your father fail at video games."

"Fucking hell!" Keith erupted again. He shook the game controller at the player he was controlling. "How do I keep missing this? What the fuck!"

"Is it bad that I don't know a damn thing about fighting?" Lance asked. He didn’t have the slightest clue what Keith was yelling over.

"Lance, you’ve been in a loving family for your entire life, so I will forgive you, but I lived in fucking group homes for six years. Fuck, I still fight sometimes. I should know how to land a fucking punch!"

Keith proceeded to get hit yet again as he was distracted by talking to Lance. "Fuck this game!" He threw the controller aside violently. He then went and turned off the gaming system.

"I guess movie night is on then?" Lance was already making a couch nest for them, not even waiting for Keith’s answer.

"Yeah. I was only gonna play until you got out of the shower anyway. I suck anyway."

"Aw poor Keith. Put the movie in and come snuggle with me. I'll make you feel better." Lance handed him the first dvd and went to make himself comfortable in the blanket.

Before he could though, Keith was staring at him with an eyebrow raised. "Mean Girls? Really, Lance? How gay of you."

"Oh come on! Please?" Lance was full on pouting.

"Are you gonna cry to make me?" Keith knew Lance would cry. He always did and Keith always gave in anyway.

"Fine." Keith caved, but good naturedly. There were worse things than watching a chick flick with the guy he secretly (not so secretly) wanted to kiss. He rolled his eyes as he let Lance get comfortable with him on the couch under the blanket while he pressed play.

"You're the best." Lance kissed him on the cheek as the opening sequence started.

Keith may have screamed later, but no one heard, so it didn’t happen. (Shiro heard).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lads, this timeline is all kinds of messed up and there's so many time skips, but just go with it, ok? do me that small favor? ok ty ily

It had been only one month of Keith recognizing that he had a crush on Lance before his life fell apart. And it was completely Lance’s fault. Well, technically it was the group of bigoted jocks who thought it would be absolutely hilarious to spray paint derogatory terms aimed at Pidge across the aerospace and aeronautical club room doors that fateful Monday morning who made Keith’s life fall to shit, but Lance just made it worse.

See, everyone at Garrison High knew that the club was full of gay people. It was just a given. There had been mean things said and written about them before, but no one had made a big deal about it. There had always been some rude slurs thrown around when people first came out, but then Allura turned the entire cheerleading squad gay in a week, leaving most of the relevant basketball players single, and so they shut the fuck up. Keith didn’t know how Allura had managed to convert fourteen girls to lesbianism in five days (six if one counted the party that Saturday), but she’d done it.

But, back to the current assault at hand. The words had shown up Monday, Pidge had shown up Tuesday wearing a dress, conforming to normal gender stereotypes, and quieter than normal, and by Wednesday morning, there was a scheme happening.

No one specifically mentioned the scheme to Keith, but he got a text from Lance in third period that just said ‘if ur gay be @ my house TODAY’, so Keith knew that something was up. He didn’t know what, but he knew better than to attempt to avoid it. This was the A&A club. They’d hunt him down one way or another, and Keith didn’t want to be at the end of anyone’s wrath.

So, he told Shiro and Adam there was going to be extra flight practice and he couldn’t miss it, because they were teachers at the school and could get in trouble if they know of this plan. That was a lie. There was no extra flight practice. It would start at exactly six PM that Wednesday, just as it did every other day, but the three hours between school ending and practice starting would be spent in Lance’s huge basement.

Lance and Allura stood on either side of an easel, which had a large poster of the varsity basketball players on it. Allura looked like she was ready to kill someone, and Lance’s expression said that he’d help her so long as she told him the name of her target. Keith took a seat on the floor up near the front, next to Matt, actually. Hunk was on the other side of Matt, and it looked like everyone else was here already.

Lance clapped his hands together like an excited kindergarten teacher, but he wasn’t smiling and he didn’t look all that excited. Determined was a better word. “Okay, so as everyone who came to school Monday knows, some assholes decided that it would be funny to write some shit on our doors, targeting one of our friends.”

Lance had begun to pace back and forth across the front of the room as he talked, and Keith was pretty sure he was about to get recruited into some kind of all out war. He wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Lance extended his hand out to Allura. “Marker me.”

She did. Lance uncapped the marker and let the top bounce away. “So. Because Allura is a determined woman when need be, we know exactly who on the basketball team thinks that they’re oh so funny. Allura got into the school’s camera room yesterday, somehow, and she found the film that has our new enemies all over it. We considered playing it for you, but then decided that that would take too much time so we just stole the basketball team poster from the gym. Because we aren’t assholes, but we are definitely petty.”

Allura crossed her arms over her chest and stepped forward, and (probably because she was wearing heeled boots and just tended to look like an evil witch) the whole room sat up to attention. Allura looked over them all, eyes slightly narrowed and her bright red lips drawn into a stern frown. “While Lance circles our targets, let me explain the game. Prom is in a month. Prom is the grand, gay finale, but we’ll be doing a lot between now and then.”

Lance had circled five heads and had started to label them. Allura glanced back at him to see how much progress he had made, and then she returned her stare to the crowd. “Our first item of business is an adult thing. We - meaning me, Matt, and Pidge - are going to go to literally every important adult at school and report the assholes who did this. That probably won’t work because Pidge is gay, and so is most of the club, and no one at this school gives a fuck about gay kids. So, since we can’t get the idiots kicked out in a nice, formal way, we’re going to have to be fucking petty as shit about it.”

“Any questions?” Lance asked. “We'll be having these meetings on Tuesdays from now on, so that we don't overlap with A&A flight practice. If you need to lie to your parents about where you are, feel free to do so, because getting revenge on these dickheads is so much more important than keeping morals.”

There were no questions, but a bunch of people gave Allura and Lance their phone numbers and Lance promised to make a group chat so that they could plot outside of the meetings. Slowly, everyone filed out except for the Holt siblings and Keith. Matt was sitting on the couch, already texting someone, and Pidge sat next to him, biting at their already short nails, recently painted. Allura crossed over and sat down beside them, wrapping an arm around their shoulders. “Are you still okay with us doing this? We can call it off if you aren't comfortable with this.”

Pidge shook their head. “No, I'm fine. I'm just nervous about the meeting tomorrow. No one on the staff is going to take us seriously.”

Allura kissed their temple and Keith felt like he was intruding on something so he got up off the floor and moved over to where Lance was cleaning up everything and doing his best to make the basement look like it had never been the base for a revenge plot. Considering how many parties Keith had helped Lance clean up, it wouldn't take him too long. Lance was good at cleaning shit up. Keith grabbed the basketball poster off the easel, which he assumed was either Allura’s or Lance’s. “Are we giving this back?”

“Nope.” Lance said, grinning. “Oh, and Allura forgot to mention it but we're gonna make Prom extra gay by making everyone have a same or similar sex date.”

“Cool.” Keith said, folding the poster in half. “Who's your fake boyfriend, then? Or have you decided yet?”

“Dude, you're my fake boyfriend, what the fuck?” Lance made a face at Keith, like Keith was stupid for asking. Keith wanted to die. He didn’t die, obviously, because that would be inconvenient for literally everyone else in the room, but he did step back from Lance. He didn’t mean to, it just kind of happened. “Who decided that?”

“I did.” Lance said, looking hurt. Keith felt like a cornered animal. It wasn’t fair. He had only figured out that he liked Lance a few weeks ago. He wasn’t ready for the fake dating trope, because that never ended well for anyone in fiction, so there was no way it could end well for him in reality. Especially since it was Lance that he had to pretend to date. Lance was not an easy person to deal with, boyfriend status or otherwise. Keith ran his hand through his hair, to get it out of his face and also so he could be doing something with his hands and not looking like an idiot. “Why?”

“Because you're my friend.” Lance said. Keith decided that it was too early for this, even though it was four in the afternoon and not early at all. “Yes, because fake dating you will be so much easier since we've never actually dated.”

“Shut up, I thought it would be easiest for both of us.” Lance sounded hurt. Keith thought he kind of deserved it, for picking Keith without his consent. Lance crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not really out yet, so if you go with me we don’t have to act super gay unless you’re comfortable with it. I know you, Keith, I’m not going to make you do anything you’re not interested in.”

“What if I’m not interested in this at all?” Keith asked.

“What, helping Pidge and putting some homophobic jerks in their place?” Lance snapped back, raising an eyebrow. Keith quickly glanced over to Allura, Matt, and Pidge, but the three of them weren’t paying much attention to Lance and Keith. “No, I want to do that. I just didn’t know it would entail me being your fake boyfriend. Even if it’s not real, people are still going to spread rumors. I don’t really care about getting outed at this point; I’m a senior anyway, so it’s not like there’s anything people can really do about it, I’ll be gone in a year. I just don’t want to end up with a reputation that isn’t real.”

“That won’t happen.” Lance said, sounding like he really fucking meant it.

Keith let out a sigh. “I hope you’re right. And I hope this all works out and no one gets kicked out of school or suspended.”

“Dude, come on.” Lance rolled his eyes, but there was a smile tugging at the corner of his lips so Keith knew that they were back on good terms. “Have a little faith in me. I get away with stupid shit all the time. There’s no way we’re gonna get caught with any of this.”

“You sure?” Keith asked, because someone had to. Lance nodded. “Hell yeah. The basketball team might guess that we’re getting revenge, but they won’t know who in the club is doing it, or if it’s actually the club members. I’m gonna make us all untraceable.”

* * *

 

As literally everyone expected, the mature plan didn’t work. Allura, Matt, and Pidge went to Principal Iverson's office first thing Thursday morning, before the seven o’clock early bell rung, and waited for the man to arrive. Once he got to his office, the three of them filed in, Matt and Allura immediately telling him everything that had happened. Pidge had been asked to back their story, and they had, and for a while, things had started to look like they were going in the club's favor.

Then Iverson asked how the three of them knew exactly who had painted the words, and Allura told him about getting access to the video tapes by asking some members of the faculty. She didn’t name drop anyone, because she knew better, and it was the right decision because the principal almost expelled her right then and there (according to the version Keith would later get from Matt). Luckily, Pidge talked him down from kicking her out, explaining how Allura was just desperate to help them out and be a supportive friend, and the principal relented. Instead of getting expelled, Allura was suspended. For an entire week.

Allura spent the rest of Thursday in the club room after telling Coran, the club director, what had happened. He was on Allura’s side, and told her to just hang out in his office and hide if he banged on the door.

Class that day was interesting. Keith, having already passed the module and flight simulator they were working on, got to observe most of what was going on. Allura watched for most of class, her back pressed against the glass of Coran’s office window. Lance was hardly concentrating, despite being a fighter pilot in the simulation. He spent most of class hunched over his computer, writing notes in his little notebook that he always had in the back pocket of his jeans. Coran only bothered telling Lance to pay attention three times before deciding it wasn’t worth it.

Pidge seemed more subdued than usual, just messing with their computer like they secretly hated it. Hunk, who everyone in the club knew would die for the other member of Team Punk, was the opposite. He was coding like the computer was a murder weapon and he had a long ass list of targets to kill before class was over.

Lance cornered Keith before he could leave the club room. Keith was packing his bag and putting his sim away in the storage room when Lance appeared beside him, leaning against the metal shelves used for the smaller tools. “You still good for this fake dating thing?”

Keith sighed, “I guess.”

Lance beamed up at him. “You are my favorite person ever, Keith. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“Yeah, okay.” Keith said, rolling his eyes and moving away from Lance’s attempt to latch onto him. Lance pouted up at Keith, because Lance was secretly a five year old who needed constant attention and Keith was his dad, apparently. Not in a sexual way, but in a “I can't believe I have to take care of this dumb child” kind of way. Keith didn't mind it too much, because sometimes Lance could be endearing. Keith pushed Lance’s face away. “You already got me to agree to date you, don't push it.”

“You love me and you'd do anything for me.” Lance said, trying to get his head on Keith’s shoulder. Keith kept moving away. He hated that Lance was right, that Keith would probably do anything for him. Not, like, kill someone. Keith wasn’t that hung up on Lance. Probably.

Lance followed him to his next class, because Lance could get away with being late to class. He reached up and messed up Keith’s hair before Keith could stop him, then winked and ran off. Keith watched him go, because what the fuck, and then tried to fix his hair before going into the classroom.

No one looked up as he came in, because everyone else had settled into their little friend groups and started talking to each other. Keith’s friend group was the A&A club, and none of them were in this class with him. Keith made his way to his seat (there had been an alphabetical seating chart at the beginning of the year but since this was a senior AP class, most people didn’t pay attention to the seating chart after the first few days of class) and dropped down into his seat.

Well, he thought to himself, at least tomorrow will be exciting.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is more of a filler so sorry for the lack of plot :(

Keith was in physics with Pidge and Hunk, the three of them trying to figure out the lab that the teacher had explained badly. The rest of the class wasn’t even trying to do the lab; they were all on their phones or just talking about things that had nothing to do with physics. Keith was so grateful to have two of his friends in this class. He’d be stuck with random lab partners otherwise, and he’s have to do all the work on his own so that he didn’t fail.

“Wait, so is the ramp supposed to be at a ten degree angle or ten centimeters off the ground?” Hunk asked, holding both the ramp (which was just a Matchbox Cars plastic road thing) and a ruler in his hands and staring at them like they would answer his question. Keith reached over the lab table to grab the instructions from Pidge, who had been doodling in the corner while reading them over for the fifth time. Keith looked down on the page. “Um, I think we’re supposed to do both? Do we have a compass?”

“Nope.” Pidge said. “There’s only two compasses in this whole fucking school. One of them is in the art room and the other is in the chemistry closet. It’s also broken.”

“So then we just do the ten centimeters thing. Cool.” Hunk said, and started trying to measure it out. The track was flimsy, though, and so it wouldn’t stay on the pile of books and binders he had made. Pidge leaned over the table and pressed their finger down on the top of the track. “He should have given us tape.”

“He should have given us better instructions.” Keith said, and got a pair of nods from his lab partners. Keith grabbed the rubber ball that they were supposed to be using and set it at the top of the ramp. Hunk gave him a thumbs up, and Keith let go of the ball. As expected, it rolled down the ramp and then kept rolling. Pidge let out a small “oh shit” and snatched the ball before it fell off the table and inevitably bounced across the room and into another country. Keith shook his head. “What are we even trying to prove here?”

“That gravity still works?” Pidge offered. They let go of the ramp thing and it fell off the books. Pidge rubbed at their face, “We’re probably just doing it wrong.”

“No shit.” Keith said.

The door to the classroom opened, and some kid that Keith didn’t recognize at all burst through the door like his Christmas presents had just come in early and he was literally five years old. Half of the class looked up at the intrusion. The kid was grinning. “There’s a fight in the cafeteria! Some kid just went apeshit on one of the basketball guys!”

Keith, Hunk, and Pidge immediately made wide-eyed eye contact with each other. “Matt.”

“Shit.”

The classroom erupted into chaos, and the physics teacher didn’t do anything to try and stop them. Keith loved the public school system (Keith did not actually love the public school system). He, Pidge, and Hunk shoved through the other twenty something kids who were trying to get out of the door to go see the fight. The three of them somehow managed to get out without losing sight of each other, because Keith was super fucking pushy, Hunk’s trademark orange headband was impossible to miss, and Pidge was good at grabbing onto people and staying attached.

When they got down to the cafeteria, it was as chaotic as Keith had imagined it to be. There were people shouting, jumping up and down excitedly, and the crowd was too big for any teachers to be able to get through.

“Matt’s gonna get himself expelled.” Pidge said, just loudly enough for Keith and Hunk to hear. “We’ve gotta stop him.”

“We are the least equipped to stop a fight.” Keith said, but he grabbed onto Pidge’s arm anyway and the three of them started pushing their way up through the crowd. Pidge looked terrified, and Hunk looked genuinely pissed off. Keith had never seen Hunk look like that, so it was probably Hunk’s angry face that got them through the crowd so easily.

Keith saw the fight before anyone else, and it was worse than he pictured it. Some of the football player’s friends had joined in, so it was now an angry, tiny, stubborn Matt versus three large and strong basketball players. Oddly enough, Matt wasn’t dead. He did have blood over his face, though, and he was holding one arm closer to his stomach than the other, but he kicked and spat and clawed at the three other guys.

“Matt, no!” Pidge burst out of Keith’s grip, and Keith didn’t know what the fuck Pidge thought they were going to do to help Matt, but he knew it could only end badly.

Luckily, Hunk had the same thought as Keith, so they both ran in after Pidge. Keith immediately got an elbow to the collar bone. He was pretty sure that the other guy had been aiming for his stomach, but forgot that Keith was the height of a potato. Keith, for all his experience fighting, had no idea what he was doing, and just kind of swung his fists at anything that looked like an angry jock. In the background, he heard the mass of kids cheering, as well as Matt yelling at Pidge for getting involved.

Matt had an impressive set of lungs and was currently trying to not get beat up. He also had a lot to say about people coming to his rescue and trying to fight basketball players.

If Keith wasn’t fearing for his life, he would be rolling his eyes. As it was, he was sure that he had just gotten a black eye and he hurt all over, both from punching and kicking guys who were one-hundred percent muscle and from getting punched and kicked from guys who were one-hundred percent muscle.

“Break it up, break it up right now!” A booming voice was saying, and then Keith was being pulled away from his sparring partner (who had slowly been turning Keith into a punching bag) and the crowd was disappearing. Keith pressed his fingertips to his cheekbone, and it hurt like a mother fucker.

* * *

“I can’t believe this.” The principal was looking down at all seven of them, mouth turned down into a harsh scowl. “I’m going to be calling all of your parents, and you will be going home immediately until I can get a good account of what happened. I hope I don’t have to expel anyone, but I will take whatever action is necessary. Do you boys understand?”

Matt twitched, his hands clenched into tight fists and his body in a pose that clearly read “I’ll fucking fight you.” Hunk looked about the same, and Keith felt a little pissed off too. If any of his friends got kicked out because the basketball team were being assholes… Keith didn’t know what he would do exactly, but it would probably be something that would look bad on his record. Maybe he would burn the principal's office. Or just punch him in the eye. Multiple times.

“I said, do you boys understand?” Iverson asked them again.  

So, Keith raised his head and said, in his most polite, adult-approved tone, “Yes, I understand.”

He wasn’t talking about the punishment, of course, because he was trying really hard to not think about what would happen when Shiro and Adam found out about this. There was a very high chance that they would ground him until the day he left for a college that he hadn’t yet decided on. There was also a chance that they would ban him from going to college so that they could continue to ground him after he finished high school. Keith knew his very small social life was about to end, so he was just trying to not think about that.

It wasn’t working very well.

Keith, Matt, Hunk, and Pidge were sitting on one side of the administrative offices, and the three basketball players were sitting on the other side. The receptionist lady was watching them all with a disapproving look on her face. The principal was in his office, calling all of their parents individually. Keith had his phone in his hand and was just staring at it, waiting for a text from one of his guardians.

“You guys shouldn’t have done that.” Matt said. “Now the whole fucking club’s gonna get suspended, and then what? We can’t do the thing if we’re all banned from school.”

“Would you shut up about your stupid space club? No one fucking cares.” One of the basketball players spat out. Keith rose up so quickly that he kicked his chair back and it fell over. The receptionist raised an eyebrow, but didn’t do anything. Hunk tugged at Keith’s wrist and hissed, “Keith, sit down. He’s just trying to piss you off, okay? Just let it go.”

“No fucking way, Hunk.” Keith said, trying to get out of Hunk’s grip and not being very successful. Apparently Hunk had an iron grip when necessary. Keith tried again to free his arm. “Hunk, come on, they can’t say that shit about us and get away with it. I wanna kick his ass. I _need_ to kick his ass.”

“No you don’t, Keith.” Hunk said, grabbing Keith with both hands now. He looked over his shoulder at Matt. “Matt, back me up here.”

Matt looked at Hunk, and then up to Keith. “Keith, Hunk is right. You don’t need to kick his ass. We need to kick his ass, together, and when we’re not on school grounds so that we can’t get suspended. So, sit down, we’ll deal with this later.”

Keith frowned, but he picked up his fallen chair and slumped down into it. “We fucking better.”

“Hunk, your mother is here to pick you up.” The receptionist said. Hunk’s anger didn’t fade at all as he grabbed his bag and limped out of the offices. Hunk’s mom must have been one of the first people called, which made sense considering he had a broken nose. A broken nose that Hunk wasn’t letting anyone look at, because he said that he was fine and that he didn’t need a doctor, even though he was still bleeding a little and his whole face looked painful.

Hunk was a stubborn guy, though, so he just walked out with his head high and stepped on the foot of one of the basketball players as he left. The player made a grab for Hunk, but he was already out of reach, and then out of the door, before the basketball player could think up some form of revenge.

Shiro was the next to show up, and Keith left quietly, grabbing his bag and getting the fuck out before any of the basketball players could get him. Shiro was by the checkout desk, looking more worried than mad. That was a good thing. Keith still had a chance to get out of this with minimal grounding. He gave him a weak smile as he approached, and he reached out and touched his injured eye tenderly. “Keith, what got into you? I thought you were over all this fighting shit.”

“There were three guys going at Matt, and Pidge jumped in to help first.” Keith said. “Me and Hunk weren’t going to just stand there and let them get beat up.”

“Keith, it’s nice that you want to protect your friends, but you need to take care of yourself.” He said, signing whatever papers were necessary to get Keith out of school and then leading him to where he had parked. Keith put his bag in the backseat and then got into the front. Shiro let out a sigh as he started the car. “Adam and I already decided that you’re going to be grounded for at least a month, but we haven’t hashed out the details yet.”

Keith nodded, because he had learned that it was best to shut up and listen until he knew everything about his grounding situation. He hadn’t been grounded a lot, but he was a quick learner.

“While I’m glad you wanted to defend your friends, I really wish you hadn’t gotten into a fight with those other boys. I saw one of them, Keith, and he was huge.” He took one of his hands off the wheel to gesture about how tall and built the player must have been. “You could have gotten a lot worse than a black eye…and they’re still going to suspend you, aren’t they? Even though you were just trying to help your friends?”

“I, yeah. Probably.” Keith said.  

Shiro shook his head.

“I’m sorry.” Keith said. Shiro didn’t say anything in response, and so the rest of the car ride home was spent in silence. Keith leaned his head back on the headrest and just watched the familiar scenery go by as they drove. His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he didn’t pull it out. He figured that if he didn’t bring his phone out, Shiro might forget that he had a phone and might not take it from him. Keith was pretty sure that Lance had just texted him, though, and the buzz a few seconds later confirmed that. Lance was not a patient man, but he would have to be. Keith was going to be without his phone for a while.

* * *

From: Meme-Me-Up-Scotty - keith what happened??? i heard that matt got in a fight and u pidge and hunk were there?? but u don’t fight anymore bc shiro would kick ur ass soooo whats up?

Keith answer ur texts u meme

keith. keithy. keitho, my buddy, my pal

DUDE

dude wtf are u grounded?

wait am i sending these to shiro and adam? whoops shit sorry mr n mr keiths guardians i’m a good person i swear

u radish tell ur parents my phone got hecked pls

*hacked

 

Keith stared at his phone, which he had managed to keep hidden for the three hours he was getting yelled at be both Shiro and Adam, and was not at all surprised by the text spam from his friend. He wasn’t sure how to respond though, so he just plugged his phone in and sat down at his desk to try and concentrate on his homework. Homework and more homework were the only two things Keith was allowed to do at the moment (besides his weekend shifts at Subway).

To be fair, he didn’t want to do any of his homework, but he figured that doing the homework would put him in better light with Shiro and Adam. Keith needed that. He needed the restrictions on his life to be lifted, because he needed to go over and talk to Lance in person about what the fuck was going to happen now. Keith didn’t know for certain, but he was pretty sure that he was going to get suspended for the fight. There was no reason for the school not to suspend him. He wasn’t going to get out of a suspension, and he needed to let Lance know.

Keith wanted to get back at these rude athletes, now more than ever. They kept proving that they were assholes over and over again. It was pissing him off.

Keith’s phone buzzed and he looked over immediately because his phone was more interesting than his physics homework. It wasn’t Lance, it was Allura.

 

Witch Lord: welcome to hell aka the suspended life. ps lance said to sneak out through ur window and get in his basement. plan is still happening.

 

Keith looked up, trying to see if Lance was in his room or not. He wasn’t, and the light was out. The school day had ended about an hour ago, so if there was a meeting going on in Lance’s basement then they were really getting their shit together with this plan. Keith was impressed. He also knew that he wasn’t going to try and sneak out through his window. His room was on the second floor, and there was nothing under his window (except for the ground) that he could use to land on if he got out of it.

At one point, Lance had suggested that they make a zip line between their bedroom windows, and Keith had shot the idea down because he assumed that Lance would use it to zip over and annoy Keith at random hours of the night. Now, though, Keith was really wishing that he and Lance had made the zip line, because that would at least get him to Lance’s house. He wouldn’t be able to get inside, because Lance’s window was closed, but it would still feel like progress.

 

to Witch Lord: can’t parents have me locked up in room. can you text me details?

Witch Lord: ye sure hold on.

 

Keith didn’t even bother going back to his homework. At this point he wasn’t going to get any of it done, so he decided to just give up on it for now. He knew that later tonight he would be holed up in his room, rushing through it all so that Shiro couldn’t catch him doing the homework he was supposed to already be done with.

 

Witch Lord: Lance is gonna put something in the football teams gatorade/water jugs. idk what but it wont end well so we are definitely losing this game. oh well…

 

Keith laughed. He could only imagine what Lance was planning, and it made him want to go over and talk to him immediately. He couldn’t, though, because Shiro and Adam were downstairs and they would know if Keith tried to sneak out. They would know, and they would catch him, and then he would be really grounded, and not just semi-grounded. Keith couldn’t risk that.

 

to Witch Lord: good plan @ lance. btw do you know if im suspended yet?

Witch Lord: nope… the people in charge are letting you share ur side of the story tho so hopefully the suspension won’t be too long…

to Witch Lord: they suspended you for a week because you snuck into the camera room. the four of us are screwed and not in a sexual way.

Witch Lord: tru. have fun with the death sentence ;)

to Witch Lord: thanks llura://///

 

Keith locked his phone and dropped it onto his desk. He then buried his face into his hands and made a defeated sounding noise into his hands. He just needed to get out of his house for a while, but he couldn’t and he couldn’t stop thinking about how fucked he was. He couldn’t stop thinking about how unfair everything was as well. It was like the entire school was against him and the A&A kids, and none of them had done anything wrong.

Keith ran his hands through his hair, messing it up entirely. Fighting back was hard when he was still underage and he could be easily grounded.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> double update because ily u all

Keith was asleep, having a nice dream where he was flying a small airplane to some random island and David Bowie was playing in the background, when suddenly he was jerked out of that dream and into the darkness of his bedroom. He had no idea why he was awake, because when he leaned over to check his phone for the time he saw that it was a little past two in the morning. There was no reason for him to be awake now, especially since he had only gone to bed about an hour and a half ago.

He heard the sound of his door opening and Keith dropped his phone before flopping down on the bed like he was still asleep. It was a talent he had developed over time from having guardians who enjoyed checking in on him to make sure he had actually gone to bed.

The intruder grabbed Keith’s shoulder and started to shake it. “Keith, wake the fuck up this is important. Keith.”

That was not the voice of either of his guardians.

Keith was concerned, and he considered continuing to fake being asleep. However, the intruder knew his name and was still shaking him. Keith whipped his arm out from under the sheets and managed to whack the person without looking at them. He then turned over onto his back and opened his eyes to see “Lance? What--what are you doing in my house? _How_ did you get in my house?”

“The window in your bathroom was open. You should probably close it at some point.” Lance said. He was hovering over Keith, half on top of him. “But do it later, when I’m not trying to sneak over and tell you shit because you got yourself grounded.”

“I’m going to get even more grounded if Shiro and Adam come in and see a guy in my bed, by the way.” Keith said.

Lance, because he was an asshole and literally the worst person ever, winked. “We can take this downstairs if that’ll make you more comfortable.”

“No.” Keith shook his head. “Absolutely not. Just tell me what you need to and go back to your house. I don’t want to get in more trouble with Shiro and Adam, okay? I’m lucky to still have my phone.”

“Yeah, but you’re not responding to my texts so what’s the point of even having it?” Lance said. Keith gave him a look that everyone called his Stern Concerned Friend Look. Lance rolled his eyes but didn’t move from his position above Keith. “Fine, I guess we’ll have our secret two AM rendezvous another night. But you’ve gotta get better at this romance thing if we want to pull off this fake boyfriends thing.”

Keith ran his hand down his face. It was too early/late for this, and for once, he wasn’t being dramatic when he thought that. “Lance, everyone in the club knows we’re not actually dating. We don’t have to pretend that we are. We just need to show up at Prom together and act really gay then.”

“Okay, look, my small ninja friend, you might not talk to anyone outside of A&A, but I do.” Lance said. “I’m popular, people know who I am and how I act when I’m dating someone versus when I’m not. They also know how my dates act. So, as soon as you get unsuspended and are legally allowed within school grounds, you need to have your dating act together because no one’s gonna think we’re a legitimate gay couple at Prom if we’re not acting like we’re a real couple beforehand.”

Keith stared up at Lance, as if he was waiting for the punchline to a joke. “And how exactly do we act like a real couple? Am I supposed to stare at you like you put the stars in the sky? Because I can’t do that convincingly. I’m going to end up looking at you like you’re an egotistical little shit.”

Keith could totally look at Lance like he hung the stars in the sky. But Lance didn’t need to know that.

“I am an egotistical little shit, and everyone I go out with knows that.” Lance said. “But what I mean is, we’ve gotta do all the embarrassingly gross couple things, because everyone I date tries to outdo whoever I dated previously, which basically means I make out with a lot of people in public places.”

“Lance, I’m not out yet.”

“I know.” Lance said, and he looked like he felt bad for making Keith do this. “And I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to, but--”

“But I’m willing to come out if it’ll make some homophobic assholes really uncomfortable.” Keith said, because he was an idiot and obviously hated himself. Lance had just given him an out, a way to not have to do this, and Keith hadn’t taken it. Instead, he would now have to kiss Lance a lot (which wasn’t a problem), but it wouldn’t mean anything in the end, and Lance would probably “dump” him the day after Prom (which would suck, a lot, but at least Keith knew it was coming).

Lance stared down at him. “Keith, are you sure? Because once you come out, you’re kind of stuck being out. I don’t want to put you in an awkward situation just because of these assholes. They’re bad, yeah, and Pidge and the others don’t deserve any of the shit they’re getting, but these guys aren’t worth ruining your life over.”

“Coming out isn’t going to ruin my life.” Keith said.

“Oh.” Lance said. “Cool.”

There was an awkward pause, and Keith laughed a little to fill the space. He paused, suddenly, remembering something that was a little embarrassing considering that he was a senior in high school and his best friend was Lance. Keith bit down on his lower lip. “Shit.”

“What?” Lance asked, his eyebrows furrowing in what would be concern on a normal human being.

“I’ve never kissed anyone and you’ve kissed, like, at least ten people. I’m gonna look like an idiot when we go public with this.” Keith said. He was going to look like an idiot anyway, and there was no way this plan of turning Prom gay would work.

“No you won’t, I’ve got you covered.” Lance said. Keith tilted his head, confused by what Lance meant, but he lost the ability to speak as Lance shifted so that he was literally over Keith, one leg on either side of Keith’s body, and cupped Keith’s jaw with the hand that he wasn’t using to keep himself up off the bed. Lance lowered himself down and pressed his lips against Keith’s. They were a little dry, but Keith kissed back (or tried to) anyway, shifting his head to a better position.

“I’m just showing you how to make out with someone, dude, don’t make a big deal about it.” Lance said, and any response Keith might have had was covered by Lance kissing him again, this time accompanied by him moving his hand down to Keith’s neck and pressing closer to him. Keith wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, so he just kind of settled them on Lance’s shoulders and tried not to knock him over.

Lance pulled back, hoisting himself up onto his arms. He looked down at Keith, and Keith noticed that his cheeks were flushed and his lips looked a little swollen. Lance reached up and ran a hand through his hair. “Well, that’s basically how you do it. So, yeah. Have a good night, Keith. See you at school or whatever.”

And then Lance left. Keith was pretty sure that he hadn’t done a good job with the kissing thing, then, because why would Lance leave immediately if Keith was actually nailing the kissing thing? Keith probably sucked so bad that Lance had to leave immediately so that he wouldn’t start laughing at Keith to his face.

Keith turned over and buried his face into his pillow, not screaming into it because he was almost an adult and also because he didn’t want to wake Shiro and Adam up. There was no way he was getting back to sleep after that. No fucking way. Keith lifted his head from his pillow and stared at the wall directly in front of him. He was so screwed. He probably wouldn’t even make it to Prom at this point.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok ily u all so much and every time someone leaves a comment i cry a lil from joy so keep them coming lads lasses and those with beautiful asses :) 
> 
> also Beezer is Nyma and Rolo’s robot friend but I made it a person bc I didn’t want to ship anyone else with Pidge bc they are young and pure, but i needed an interest for a line and possible plot point so...

Keith was suspended for three days because it was his first violation at this school and he hadn’t done any real damage to any of the basketball players. Pidge got three days as well, while Hunk got a day longer because Hunk actually gave one of the players a black eye. Matt, on the other hand, got a full week, like Allura because he started the fight.

Keith was pissed off about that, and wanted to get some kind of personal retaliation in, but he was still grounded because Shiro was adamant about curbing Keith’s fighting before letting it get out of hand again. So he just suffered in silence and texted suggestions to Allura and Lance. Allura ignored her week long suspension and spent her time in the club room, or out by the football field with whoever was skipping class. Keith envied her freedom. He was stuck in his room receiving tips on how to date Lance from Lance, and it was not doing much for his sanity.

The day Keith returned to school from his suspension, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He got to school early, found a convenient parking space because he had gotten paid (thank God) and could actually pay for gas now, and headed straight to the club room. First period flight practice was probably one of the best perks of being in the garrison’s pre-aerospace program, because it meant that Keith didn’t have to deal with the rest of the school first thing in the morning.

“Keith, psst, over here.” Lance’s eyes appeared from behind Keith’s computer. Keith’s backpack was halfway down his arm, and he was hunched over in a very awkward and uncomfortable position. He narrowed his eyes at Lance. “What do you want?”

“Don’t be an ass to your boyfriend, come over here.” Lance’s arm appeared as well, his fingers wiggling and tapping against his (very expensive) controller. Keith whacked Lance’s hand away from his equipment before dropping his backpack onto the floor and readjusted his shirt from where the strap of his backpack had pulled it down. He came over to the other side of his station to see Allura, Lance, and Pidge sitting in a little circle, Allura half under one of the stations, her beanie all the way down almost over her eyes.  She looked like she was plotting revenge. Keith didn’t know who she was plotting against, but he didn’t envy them. Keith sat down between Lance and Allura, pushing Lance away with his legs as he tried to make room. He rested his chin in his palm. “So, why have I been summoned?”

“We need a better plan.” Allura said. “One that doesn’t involve Matt punching people and then half the club getting suspended. We also need to do it without telling any adults, because they won’t help with shit, and Coran told me that he doesn’t want to know what I’m doing here, or that I’m even here, because he could get fired or something, and that would suck ass.”

“That would definitely suck ass.” Keith agreed. “No one else would be willing to put up with us.”

“And no one else would be cool about all the shit we do.” Pidge added. They scrunched up their nose to push their glasses back up, which didn’t do much to fix the problem. “Hunk is coming back tomorrow, and then Matt’s coming back next Monday.  That’s way too long to wait.”

“So what are we plotting?” Keith asked. Lance laughed, getting glares from Allura and Pidge. Keith was starting to suspect that this meeting was a complete secret, even from the rest of the club. He had no idea why he was allowed in, but he wasn’t about to ask. He adjusted his position on the floor without hitting anyone. “Is there something else that I’m missing?”

“Well, we need to make it obvious that we won’t take shit from the basketball guys, but we need to do it without letting them know that we’re also getting revenge in the background. Like me and the cheerleaders,” Allura said. She stuck her legs out in the middle of the circle and rearranged her skirt. 

“So, instead of Allura going behind the basketball team’s back and making all their girlfriends gay, we’re going to take the gay to the front of the school, and make some fucking headlines about it.” Lance said, wrapping his arm around Keith’s shoulders. Keith was starting to not like where this was going. Lance pulled Keith closer, even though Keith was making a face and Allura was biting back a laugh at their antics. Lance pressed an over dramatic kiss to Keith’s cheek. “All the same sex couples in band are going to act especially homosexual, and by that I mean there will be so much gay PDA in the halls that we’ll match the straights.”

“There are, like, three gay couples in this club right now, Lance.” Pidge said. “That’s going to be a lot of making out.”

“Oh, like you haven’t been eyeing Nyma’s little sister, Beezer.  Don’t play with me, Pidge, I’ve been in the dating scene longer than you.” Lance jabbed his finger at Pidge with the hand that wasn’t in Keith’s hair. Lance picked Pidge’s phone up off the floor and handed it back to them. “Text Matt, James, Rizavi, Leifsdottir, Kinkade, whoever, and tell them that we’re doing the gay thing today. It’s time for us to get gross and invasive.”

“And then when people complain, I’ll just point them in the direction of the nearest straight couple and ask why they aren’t getting pulled out of school for being inappropriate.” Allura said. “Nyma’s going to love this.”

“Oh, you’re with Nyma now?” Lance asked.

“Well, kind of. She’s been having some family problems, so she’s staying at my place for now and we may or may not have kissed a few times.” Allura said, and she looked a little embarrassed. Keith was surprised; Allura never got embarrassed while talking about girls. “It’s not official or anything, but she’s down for acting official, at least until we fix this mess.”

“Well, at least you didn’t have to teach her how to kiss.” Lance said, petting Keith’s hair. “Our favorite emo over here has never kissed anyone. Except me.”

“I’m going to kill you,” was Keith’s only response. He stared at the floor, because he could feel his face getting red and he knew that if would only get worse if he looked at anyone else. Especially if he looked at Lance, because he had a crush on Lance (that was becoming more obvious every day) but he also really, really hated him. Like, a lot. If Keith was ever going to label a real person as a problematic fav it would have to be Lance.

Lance patted the side of Keith’s face. “You’ll have to get past that, buddy, because we’ve got a long way to go.”

At first, being Lance’s fake boyfriend didn’t seem too hard. Sure, Keith knew he’d be sexually frustrated on a whole new level, but he and Lance had been ambiguously gay before. The difference was now that they walked through the hallways while holding hands and would occasionally pause to just kiss each other. Keith’s heart rate hadn’t slowed down since he left the club room that morning, and he was one hundred percent sure he was going to die if he didn’t figure out how to be fucking chill when around Lance.

He had work after school, in the two hours between school and flight practice (because capitalism sucked and his boss sucked and basically, Keith was just an angsty teen). He figured that that would be a reprieve from all the fake dating and making out, but he was  _ so  _ wrong.

First, Lance came in and rattled off about fifteen sandwiches (obviously he was getting stuff for the club), and then hung over the counter and flirted nonstop with Keith while Keith was trying to make the sandwiches. That would have been fine, because Lance flirted with everyone all the time, but Keith had to keep pausing to look up at Lance and glare at him.

Lance would just wink and continue on like he wasn’t interrupting Keith while he was working or anything.

Keith finished the sandwiches and brought them down to the register. Lance was practically on top of the counter as Keith finished up his order, and Keith had to push him back. “It’s unsanitary, Lance. I like having you here”  _ more than I should _ “but if you get me fired because you can’t keep your hands off of me for two hours, I’m gonna be pissed.”

“I bet I could do this everyday.” Lance said, and Keith “accidentally” charged him for thirty three veggie delights instead of just three. “I don’t doubt you, but I’m serious. Don’t be me fired.”

“Will they fire you for kissing your boyfriend, or is that a straight people only thing too?” Lance asked, dropping the flirty tone. He handed over his credit card (his parents’ credit card that he got to use) and purposely brushed his fingers over Keith’s. Keith did not flinch back or lean into the touch, because he was almost an adult and he was in total control of himself (spoiler alert: he was not). Keith swiped the card and handed it back before answering. “People have been fired for less than kissing the person they’re dating, Lance. It’s not worth it.”

“I guess I’ll just have to kiss you later, then.” Lance said, and winked. Keith quirked an eyebrow, even though he was blushing. “Yeah, you do that, then. I’ll see you at practice.”

“Damn right you will.” Lance said, grabbing the bags of sandwiches, and walking backwards out of the store. He slammed into the door on his way out, but the door was a push door so he didn’t look like a total idiot. Keith bit back a laugh, because he was on the job and he was supposed to be friendly without actually acting like he had a personality. Laughing at his (fake) boyfriend was probably not allowed on the job.

Keith turned to the next customer and started making a new sandwich, focusing on his job and not on Lance. It was hard, because making sandwiches was easy and Lance was more interesting than the three cheese options that people could put on their subs.  


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last chapter was shorter than normal, and I already had the next one ready to fling at yall, so heres a double update :)))
> 
> also also the story is set in the mojave desert in California. its my best bet to where the Galaxy Garrison is set in the show but idek im just doin my best

After practice he immediately regretted deciding to give Lance a ride home when his car decided to blow a tire. At nine in the evening, when it was dark out and everyone else had already gone home. Keith slammed his head back against the soft headrest. “Fuck.”

“You have a spare, right?” Lance asked. Keith shook his head. “No. I used the spare on another tire that had a leak, and I told Shiro I’d go somewhere to get it fixed but I forgot, and that was in, like, November. So, we have to call a tow truck.”

“I can call my mom and she’ll come pick us up.” Lance was already going for his phone, but Keith reached over and grabbed Lance’s wrist. They weren’t that far away from their respective houses, and Mrs. McClain was a busy person. Keith told Lance that, and Lance agreed with him. “Okay, just the tow truck then. How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?”

“Who knows?” Keith said. “At least it’s not that cold out. That would suck.” He was right, it was an unusually mild March for the desert in California. 

“Don’t you have blankets in the backseat?” Lance asked as Keith fished his phone out of his backpack and called the tow truck number Shiro had made him plug in back when he’d first gotten the car. Keith nodded in answer to Lance’s question, and then spent about ten minutes getting through to someone who could come get the car. The woman on the other end said that there would be a truck coming in about thirty minutes, and to just sit tight and wait. Keith thanked her and ended the call, and then sat back in the front seat. “So, we’re stuck here for a while.”

“Can we at least get out of the car?” Lance asked. Keith turned his head to the side to stare at Lance. “What, so that we can turn a normal situation into the beginning of a bad horror movie?”

“It’ll only be a horror movie if we start dying.” Lance said. Keith sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt, deciding that some fresh air might help him clear his head. “Alright, fine, we’ll get out of the car.”

“You’re the best guy I’ve ever dated.” Lance said, smiling warmly, and Keith’s heart lurched inside of his chest. He opened the car door and made sure that he was facing away from Lance when he responded with, “And I’m not even your real boyfriend,” because he was pretty sure that he would give himself away if Lance could see his face. Keith wanted to be Lance’s real boyfriend (unfortunately), but there were so many complications, as well as knowing that Lance didn’t want to actually date him.

Lance wasn’t the type for silent pining. If Lance was interested in someone, he made it known, and he went after them. Of course, Lance also respected when people weren’t interested in him, or if he accidentally went after a lesbian or a straight guy without knowing it. Keith had been around Lance long enough to know when the guy was interested in someone, and Lance had never shown any of those signs towards Keith.

The two of them settled themselves on the hood of Keith’s car. Lance laid down on his back almost immediately, folding his hands behind his head and staring up at the sky like this was a high school cliche. Maybe it was, but Keith wasn’t living it. He let out a sigh and looked over at his “fake” boyfriend.

Lance wasn’t looking at Keith. He was staring at his own feet, his heels braced on the front bumper. His hair was out of it’s perfect style and strands were falling into his face. He looked gorgeous. Keith kind of wanted to shove him off of the car. And then maybe make out with him on the ground. It was ridiculous. It was even more ridiculous when Lance turned his face toward Keith’s and Keith could see the moonlight reflecting in Lance’s blue eyes. 

Lance moved over so that their arms were pressed against each other, and leaned against the older boy. They sat like that until the tow truck arrived. Lance actually stayed quiet for once, which was odd. Lance liked to talk. Keith was pretty sure he was in love with his own voice or something (it was actually a really nice voice and Keith didn't mind listening to it). He figured that Lance was just tired and didn't have the energy to ramble on about whatever topic was interesting him at the moment.

When Lance didn’t start talking while they walked home, Keith started to get worried that something was wrong. Lance looked a little sad, or disappointed. Keith reached out and wrapped his arm around Lance’s shoulders. Lance looked up at him, a small frown on his face. “What are you doing?”

“You looked kinda off.” Keith said. “You know you can talk about it, if you want to. We’re friends. Also, you’ve told me most of your life story by now, so I’m pretty much ready for anything.”

“It’s nothing.” Lance said, shrugging Keith’s arm off. He looked away from Keith and then looked back up at him again. It was very confusing; Keith wasn’t sure what Lance was trying to do. Lance dropped his gaze. “Sorry about making your life hell, with the fake dating and everything.”

“It’s okay.” Keith said, running his hand through his hair and probably messing it up. Not that it mattered, since it was dark and Keith was going home to do his homework and then go to sleep anyway. “But if you want to take me on a friend date--or even a fake boyfriends date--to make this easier, I won't mind. I've never been on any kind of date, so I don't have very high expectations.”

Lance smiled, his soft lips curling up and his face looking smoother than usual in the moonlight. “We could do that. Anywhere you'd want to go, or do you trust me?”

“I think I trust you with this. Anything else, and I'd be worried, but you take a lot of people on dates.” Keith said. He looked down at Lance’s hand, which was swaying at his side while they walked. It was so close to Keith’s; he could take it in his own if he wanted to. He could come up with a reason if Lance asked, but maybe Lance wouldn't ask why Keith was suddenly holding his hand? Maybe Lance would just let it happen, and let Keith walk back home, hand in hand with his crush and his fake boyfriend. There was only one way for Keith to get confirmation, and that was to just fucking do it. So he did, reaching out and linking Lance’s fingers with his own. Lance didn't even miss a step, and actually squeezed Keith’s hand lightly. Keith’s heart did a flip that probably was not healthy, but it felt good anyway.

It was dark, save for the moonlight, by the time the two boys reached their houses. Lance’s was first, and Lance didn't let go of Keith’s hand, instead pulling him up his front walk and onto the porch. Lance pulled their clasped hands up to Keith’s chest. “Thanks for driving me home, and then walking me home when your tire blew. Also, I told my parents we were dating so you should probably kiss me or something before I go in for the night.”

“You told your parents?” Keith whispered, his eyes going wide. “Are they going to tell anyone?”

“No, I told them you weren't out yet and I didn't want to rush you.” Lance rolled his eyes. “They also want you to come over for dinner at some point, but it's no big deal. You've met them before. They like you, they just want to be good parents and meet the boyfriend.”

“But I'm not actually your boyfriend; I'm just pretending.” Keith said, because he didn't want to think about Lance’s parents or kissing Lance where his parents could possibly see or anything else.

“I know, but we need to keep up appearances.” Lance said. “For the sake of the plan, of course. Now kiss me like you mean it.”

Keith let go of Lance’s hand so that he could cup Lance’s face. He leaned down and pressed his lips to Lance, pretending that this was real and maybe he would become the right person for Lance and they would last more than a month. Lance kissed back, and it almost felt real, because Lance’s fingers were reaching for Keith’s shirt, grabbing at the fabric and pulling him in closer.  

Keith pulled back from Lance, his face feeling warm. Keith resisted the urge to put his fingers to his lips, because that was cliche as fuck and Keith was better than that. Probably. Instead, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts and swallowed. “So, uh. Goodnight, I guess?”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” Lance said, reaching behind him to open his front door and vanish inside of it. Keith was blinded by the light of Lance’s house for a moment before the door slammed shut behind him and he was back in the darkness. He stared at the door for a while before he realized how dumb he looked and picked his bag up off of Lance’s front porch. He walked away, over to his own house next door. He let himself in through the garage and headed straight to his room, tossing his bag on his bed and then sitting down beside it.

Keith’s upper thigh vibrated. He pulled out his phone to see that he had one message from Lance:

hey they bought it ur good :)

Keith stared down at his phone, not sure how to respond. If Lance hadn’t used the smiley face, it would have been easier.

keith i know ur there answer ur phone

...babe

come on dont be fuckign rude

Keith sighed and looked up from his phone, wondering what Lance was doing. Or if he really meant that babe text. Lance wasn't doing much, though. He was just sitting there, shirtless and staring at his phone. His other hand was in his lap, tapping against his leg. Keith rearranged himself so that his legs were criss-crossed on the bed.

to Meme-Me-Up-Scotty: sorry I was unpacking. glad they believed us bc that was a lot of acting.

It had not been a lot of acting. Keith had really enjoyed making out with Lance. 

From Meme-Me-Up-Scotty: ok cool hope it wasnt too much dont want to freak u out dude

Keith looked up to see Lance worrying his lower lip with his teeth. At least Keith wasn’t the only one unsure about this whole fake dating thing. Lance had it easier, though, because he wasn’t crushing on his fake boyfriend and he didn’t have to remind himself all the time that it wasn’t real and that it would be over as soon as homecoming ended.

to Meme-Me-Up-Scotty: you’re fine. I need to do homework, though. Have a good night :)

Keith almost didn’t add the smiley, because he didn’t want to make things weird. But then he figured that if Lance could get away with platonically calling Keith babe and adding a face to the end of a text, then Keith could finish off his goodnight text with a smile. It was only a smile, after all, smiley faces weren’t even that sexual.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry pals this is a v v short update because i am #stressed about school and currently have $12.75 in my bank account to eat for the rest of the month so send help i h8 college 
> 
> also my high school was very not normal so idk how prom or basketball games or anything works, but im doin my best

It was two Fridays before Prom and the A&A club was huddled together on the gym, using the halftime break to discuss their plans for the upcoming week. Things had been going splendidly; Allura had used her connections with the cheerleading squad to get extra people in one the PDA plan and the basketball players had been so grossed out that they refused to talk to half the squad.

Keith was sitting in a circle with most of the club, enjoying a Dr. Pepper and listening to Lance, Allura, Pidge, and Hunk discuss things. Matt was sitting beside Keith, and watching the conversation as well, apparently content to sit back and enjoy his food while the three others hashed it all out.

Keith took another drink from his Dr. Pepper. “So, Hunk, are you going to be a part of the big gay homecoming?”

“Yeah, me and Matt are actually going together.” Hunk said. “As friends, obviously, because I’m dating Shay and Matt’s got his eyes on someone else--duh--but we’re doing it. I’ve even got Shay’s permission to slow dance with him if he wants to.”

“Do you think he will?” Keith said. He glanced around, to see is Matt was within hearing range. He wasn’t; Matt was gesturing aggressively across the circle and Lance was watching him with wide eyes while he drank from his bottle of Coke. Keith put the cap back on his Dr. Pepper, loosely because he wasn’t done. “Or is he going to consider that cheating on that cargo pilot blonde girl? Those two are practically dating now.”

“She is into him.” Hunk said, nodding in confirmation. “He told me earlier this week, so I’m guessing it’s pretty new.”

“Oh, shit.” Keith said. “Do we need to make a new betting pool on who’s going to ask the other out now?”

“Depends. Should the club make one about when you and Lance are going to become actual boyfriends?” Hunk asked, raising his eyebrows. Keith could feel the blush cross his face; he was pretty sure he was redder than a tomato. He slunk down against the bleachers and brought his knees up to his chest. “Lance isn’t interested in me like that. He would have done something already if he was.”

“Yes, because fake dating doesn’t count as doing something.” Hunk rolled his eyes. Keith glared at him. “You’re fake dating Matt.”

“I’m taking him to Prom with permission from my girlfriend of three and a half years.” Hunk said. “Lance broke up with his last girlfriend two days before he started fake dating you, and you’ve been fake dating for longer than any of his real relationships have lasted.”

“Don’t get my hopes up, Hunk, please.” Keith said, because he didn’t want to think about how it could be real when he knew it wasn’t, and it never would be. Lance didn’t date people like him. Lance didn’t even look twice at people like him. If Keith didn’t live next door to Lance, or if Keith wasn’t in the club with him, they wouldn’t be friends, let alone boyfriends. Fake boyfriends, but still. The point was still there. Boys like Lance didn’t go after boys like Keith unless there was something else happening behind the scenes, like a club campaign to get the gays accepted in high school.

“Alright, I’ll let it go.” Hunk said, because he was a nice person. Usually. When he wasn’t being a little shit and trying to make people take risks they weren’t sure about. Keith smiled at him. “Thanks, man. And good luck with Matt, I heard he’s really bad at dancing.”

“I know.” Hunk said. “He also really hates school dances, so he just avoids them completely. It’s kind of hilarious.”

“Yeah. Hey, when is student council supposed to be announcing Prom court?” Keith asked, hoping to God that it came off as casual. He and Lance had come up with the plan, which was very much illegal and involved a lot of conversations with people that Keith didn’t know about things he didn’t want Shiro to ever know about. Nyma and Shay were involved, as well as Lance’s connections with the drama department. Even with all the help that Lance and Keith had been getting, Keith was pretty sure that Lance had messed with some of the tally numbers.

“After the game’s over.” Hunk said. 

Keith nodded, and finished off the rest of his Dr. Pepper. He could feel Hunk watching him out of the corner of his eye. “Keith.”

Keith turned to Hunk, feigning innocence. “Yeah?”

“Why do you care?” Hunk asked. “What did you do?”

“You’ll see. It’s nothing bad, so don’t worry.” Keith said. He hoped it wouldn’t be anything bad. He also hoped that Allura would forgive him, or at least go after Lance first so that he could try to escape. It wouldn’t be bad, though. It might be mildly embarrassing for the people involved, but nothing bad was going to happen to the people elected to homecoming court. Keith had made that explicitly clear when he pitched the idea to Lance over text.

* * *

The Garrison won, which wasn’t that much of a surprise since the basketball team had yet to lose a game that season. Right after the band finished playing the fight song, Lance ran from his position in the front of the stands and ran up the bleachers to Keith. Keith moved over to give him room. Lance looked smug. Keith wanted to kiss him. Keith didn’t kiss him. “How do think she’s going to react?”

“She’s gonna blame us, I can feel it.” Lance said. “When her name gets called she’s going to hang me with her hair and I will accept death.”

“I’ll try and save you.” Keith said, turning away from Lance as the president of student council took the stage, Nyma right behind him. Nyma was the VP, and Keith was really glad that she was on the club’s same wavelength. It made his plan so much easier to do.

The two boys waited impatiently as the president read off the names of the underclass girls who made homecoming court. Lance tapped his foot against the bleacher in front of them, and Keith reached out to put his hand on Lance’s knee and stop him without really thinking about it. Lance put his hand on top of Keith’s and squeezed. Lance might have been making this more dramatic than it needed to be, but Keith was too engrossed to care. He just wanted to see if his plan had worked, and how people would react.

The president flipped to his next notecard and Keith turned to Lance to ask, “You did make sure they got on the court, right?”

“I did more than that.” Lance said, grinning. “We have a future queen in our midst.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Oh my God, Lance, that is the most cliche thing you could do.”

“No it’s not,” Lance said, putting his other hand to Keith’s mouth to stop him from asking any more questions. “Now shut up and pay attention.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but he did turn back to the field to hear the student council president start listing off names for the court. There were five girls every year who were on the court, and then a sixth girl who was the homecoming queen. The underclassmen had two court members each. Keith didn’t get the system, but he also wasn’t a girl or interested in girls and so he figured it was okay that he didn’t really understand it. He just knew how to exploit it, and that was all that mattered.

The president read off the first five names and then paused, a look of confusion crossing his face. Keith grinned as Nyma, still in her cheerleader uniform, leaned across him and pushed him away from the podium. She plucked the papers from his hands and, with a broad, winning smile on her face, said, “And this year’s Prom queen will be… Allura Altea! Congratulations, Allura!”

Allura, who had walked over to join the boys, dropped her hands from Keith and Lance’s shoulders. “What the fuck.”

“Congratulations.” Lance said. Allura kicked him in the shin. Keith thought he kind of deserved it, but backed away from her anyway because he didn’t want to get assaulted as well. She turned to look up at him. “Should I make this into a gay thing?”

“Make it as gay as you want.” Keith said, getting a thumbs-up from Lance. Allura obviously hadn’t kicked him too hard. She grinned. “That’s a dangerous thing to say but fine. If you insist, I’ll make it super fucking gay.”

And she did. Allura walked down onto the field like she owned the place. She accepted the crown and the over-embellished sash from the student council president just like every queen before her, and then turned to Nyma thanked her, then grabbed the cheerleader and kissed her, dipping her like they were in a 1940’s movie and Allura had just returned from the war. It was very gay, and there were some strange looks given, but the club, who had all showed out for this moment because they knew something big and gay was happening, was so loud and supportive that any jeering assholes were blocked out by the sound of screaming.

Lance wrapped an arm around Keith’s shoulders, pulling him in. “What a beautiful sight, right Keith?”

“Yeah.” Keith grinned, wrapping his arm around Lance’s waist. Because it was, and it meant that they were finally getting their point across.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello friends i just want u all to know that i read every single one of your comments and cry @ all of them. I love you all so much and im so thankful that yall keep reading this mess
> 
> also! update: i now have 27$ bc my pal venmoed me money from junior year of high school (im a freshman in college) so that was weird but v appreciated!
> 
> sorry this note is so long, i just want to express my unconditional love 4 u all

Allura showed up at Lance’s house on Wednesday and Keith let her in and asked if she wanted a drink or something because Keith was a better host than Lance, even when he was at Lance’s house.

“No, I need to talk to Lance. He is here, right?” Allura asked. She reached a hand up towards her hair and then brought it back down, like she had just remembered that it was up there.

“Yeah, he's here.” Keith said. “He's up in his room.”

Allura nodded, and then followed Keith up to Lance's room when he realized that Allura probably didn't know the inside of Lance's house like Keith did. He came to some of his parties, but one of the party rules that Keith had picked up was that you didn't go upstairs unless you were hooking up with someone. As far as Keith knew, Allura hadn't hooked up with anyone at any of Lance's parties.

The two of them found Lance on his bed, with Queen blaring in the background as Lance sang along loudly and (annoyingly) on key. Keith grabbed Lance's leg and pulled, and Lance let out a squawk. He sat up and turned the music down without looking like a complete idiot, though, so Keith was impressed.

Keith closed the door behind Allura. “Allura’s here. 

“Hey.” Allura said, sitting down on Lance's soft, fuzzy chair that Keith always used and loved more than anything. Keith frowned and sat down on the edge of Lance's desk, out of the way.

“So, I have a problem.” Allura started. Lance sat up and crossed his legs, leaning forward and resting his chin in his palm. “You have my attention. Carry on.”

“Straight girls are terrifying and I'm sorry that you've dated most of them.” Allura said, and Keith let out a snort, because same. Allura glanced over his shoulder and Keith waved her off, letting her know that his amusement didn't come at a cost to her. She turned back around to Lance. “They're not mean, which is nice, but they're dead set on getting me a date for prom and I'm not sure how to explain to them that I don't want to go with one of their straight guy friends. I've met some of their guy friends and they're all annoying.”

“Straight boys tend to be.” Lance said, as if he had experience with actual straight boys. He might, considering that he had a social life outside of the club and sometimes there were parties at his house where Keith wasn’t dragged over because they weren’t club parties. Keith didn't interact with real straight boys, because the only straight boys he knew were kids from his church (who he tended to avoid) and Hunk. And Hunk didn't really count as straight. He found Chris Evans attractive, which made him a Captain America gay. He couldn't be completely straight.

Lance frowned. “Why are they so obsessed with getting you a date, anyway?”

“Because apparently if I'm going to be a real queen, I need to have a king.” Allura said, sounding like she was repeating a rehearsed statement. She reached up and ran a hand through her hair, giving up on keeping herself perfect. “They're all, like, really insistent about it too. I’m only free because I texted Pidge and made them call me and lie about some catastrophe. I’m pissed, by the way,Lance, and when this is all over, I’m killing you multiple times over.”

Lance let out a squeak. “Technically it was Keith." Keith waved, even though Allura knew that he had been there the whole time. Allura pressed her hand to her mouth. “Fine, I’ll fucking murder you, too.”

“Anyway, straight girls are really rampant, and I mean they’re really, really rampant.” Allura continued. “I had to explain what being a lesbian meant, because they keep asking me which guy I’m taking to prom and I keep telling them that I do not want to go with a guy.  But I guess I'll have to.”

Lance grinned and laid back down on his bed, his shirt riding up a little so that the waistband of his underwear was visible. Keith tried not to stare too hard. Lance laughed and rolled over to his side, propping his head up. “Oh man, we are going to blow their minds at prom.”

“True.” Allura said. “But I need to borrow one of your boyfriends.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because I need a guy who won’t try to feel me up at dinner, and most of the guys you’ve dated are gay. And I don’t want to put Nyma in a hard position, so we’re going to dance and shit, but just not go as dates. Her family is not great with the whole 'being gay' thing.” Allura said. She turned around to face Keith again. “I’d ask you, but you’re already going with Lance and I don’t want to make things awkward between the two of you.”

“We’re not really dating, Allura.” Lance said. “You can take Keith to prom if you want to. And if he wants to.”

Keith tightened his grip on the desk, willing himself not to say anything. He knew that what he had with Lance wasn’t real, and that it would have to end eventually, but he didn’t want it to. He liked fake-dating Lance. He liked Lance. He had no problem taking Allura to prom to make his life easier, but he was feeling selfish and he wanted to get Lance to himself.

“It’s fine. I’ll deal with whatever straight guy the girls give me.” Allura said, waving Lance off. Keith relaxed, and then felt guilty for doing so. He wouldn’t have a problem going to prom with Allura , because the two of them got along pretty well (considering they were both giant nerds) and Allura was right: Keith wouldn’t try to do anything to him. She deserved a better senior prom date than some random straight guy, who would probably spend the entire evening trying to get the Full Gay Story and make Allura feel really awkward. Keith sat up. “You don’t have to do that, Allura. I’ll be your beard, or whatever the word is.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to ruin what you and Lance have.” Allura said. Keith purposely did not look over at Lance. “What me and Lance have?”

“Yeah. The two of you are a really convincing couple, and since we’re trying to make prom gay, we need all the gay we can get.” Allura said. “That, and fake dating Lance means you can get into all the cool pre and after parties. I probably can, since I’m queen and all, but I really don’t want to go to any of them.”

“And you think I do?” Keith asked. He had never been to a party that Lance wasn’t hosting. He had heard about them, but he wasn’t high enough on the social totem pole to be invited.

Allura shrugged. “Maybe?”

“There’s one this Friday, kind of as a pre-prom thing.” Lance said. He was staring right at Keith, and if Keith didn’t know any better, he would call the look bitter. “We could stage it to look like you and Allura make out and I get pissed off and dump Keith. It would be dramatic and memorable, and it would get you a guy date to prom.”

“I already told you I wasn’t going to make things awkward between the two of you. Fake making out with your fake boyfriend would qualify as making things awkward.” Allura said.

“No it wouldn’t.” Lance said. Keith narrowed his eyes, wondering why Lance was suddenly dead set on getting rid of him. “Yeah it will," Keith said, "And I don’t want people at school to start saying that I’m a cheater when I’m not. I don’t even have anyone to cheat on!”

Or …” Allura drawled out, raising her hand like they were in class. “Or I could go with a straight guy and stab him with a fork if he tries to touch me. I’m not completely helpless, you know.”

“Or you could do that.” Keith said, before Lance could come up with a new idea of how to get out of fake dating Keith. Keith knew that Lance didn’t want to actually date him, but he didn’t have to make it so obvious and he didn’t need to use Allura like that. Allura should have been able to pick her date on her own, not get stuck with someone Lance didn’t want.

Allura looked between the two of them and stood up, straightening her skirt and slowly moving towards the door. “Well, thanks for listening. Um, I’ll let you know if I need anything else. Have a great life.”

Keith waited until Lance’s door closed behind Allura and then turned back to him. “So.”

“Same to you, buddy.” Lance said. “Are you allergic to Allura or something? I was just trying to get you a real date.”

“Allura and I would be going as friends, same as you and I are.” Keith crossed his arms over his chest. “I don't really care who I end up going with” (that was a lie) “but if I'm keeping you from someone else you want to actually be dating, tell me outright. I'm your friend, not your boyfriend” (he wanted to be both) “I can handle a rejection.” (he could not).

Lance lowered his head, his hair falling into his face in strands. “I want to go with you, Keith. You're my best friend, and I know I can be an asshole sometimes, but I wouldn't want to do this without you. I want you as my fake boyfriend. And real friend.”

Keith got up off the desk and moved over to Lance's bed. He sat down on the edge of it. “Okay. I want to be your fake boyfriend and real friend too.”

“Fuck yeah.” Lance said, a weak smile on his face. Keith wished he could kiss him and make it better. He didn't. He just pulled Lance closer and said, “So, you mentioned a pre-prom party? What do I need to do to look like I belong there? Asking as your boyfriend, of course.”

Lance grinned up at Keith. Keith was a little bit (a lot) in love with him at that moment.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi pals sorry this is late i had that good good #depression
> 
> anyways heres the next part ily yall

The party was dark and loud and Keith was glad to be holding on to Lance's hand as the two of them moved through the house. Keith recognized most of the people there, but he had never talked to any of them and most of them were looking him up and down to see if he passed their tests. Keith had no idea if he was passing or not, but he knew that if he wasn't with Lance, he would have gotten kicked out already. This wasn't his kind of party. This was the cliche high school party scene in a movie, with the loud club music and the crazy lights and a metric fuckton of alcohol.

He pressed up against Lance's back, leaning down to rest his chin on Lance's shoulder. “Is this what normal high school parties are like?”

“Are you saying mine don't count as normal?” Lance leaned back and pecked Keith on the cheek. It made sense, considering they were at a party where everyone thought they were actually dating and that there was mutual attraction and not just Keith's wishful thinking.

Keith considered leaning over to kiss Lance properly but decided against it. He didn't want to push the whole boyfriends thing too much. “Well, I mean your shindigs are the only parties I've been to, so I don't have a point of comparison.”

“I can’t believe you just said ‘shindigs’ with a straight face.” Lance said. He leaned back into Keith, resting the back of his head in the crook of Keith’s neck. “You’re a fucking dork, you know that, right?”

“You’ve told me that a few times, yeah.” Keith said, wrapping his arms around Lance. Apparently the two of them were really going to play up the couple thing. Keith wondered if this was Lance’s way of being dramatic. After all, prom was tomorrow, and then after that he and Lance wouldn’t have to be fake dating anymore. Lance probably wanted to end their relationship on a big, dramatic, gay scene, because that was the kind of guy he was.

“Oh, Lance, didn't know you were back on doing the gay thing.” A guy with soft looking red hair followed by a pretty blonde walked up to Keith and Lance. He looked Keith up and down. “Yeah, he looks like one of your usual ones.”

“Oh my God, Bandor, you can't say that about people. I’m so sorry about my brother.” The girl said, and elbowed Bandor in the stomach. He frowned down at her. “Romelle, come on. I call Lance out all the time. He doesn't care.”

“Or maybe I just didn't feel like making a big deal about it.” Lance snapped, and Keith could feel him tensing under his arms. Keith pulled Lance in closer because it was too early in the party for Lance to be fighting people. He couldn't just get away with swinging punches because someone was talking shit. Lance lifted his head. “And you didn't insult me, you insulted Keith. And that's not okay, dickface.”

“Lance.” Keith started, but he didn't get to make excuses because Lance was wiggling under Keith's arm and, honestly, Keith didn't really care about Lance fighting this guy. If Bandor was going to be an asshole, then Keith was going to let Lance go at it. Keith might even join him if the fight got interesting.

“Shut the fuck up and don't ever insult me or my boyfriend again. And if you can't wrap your head around the idea that my current partner doesn't define my entire sexuality, I suggest you whip out your fucking iPhone, open safari or whatever, and Google the goddamn definition of bisexual.” Lance said, leaving Keith's arms and getting up in Bandor’s face. Bandor looked a little stunned, but the girl, Romelle, was giggling. Keith moved over to her while Lance continued to explain sexuality to Bandor. Because Lance really did like the sound of his own voice and he had no problem going on for hours once he got started on a subject. Keith could probably go off into a corner for an hour and come back to see Lance still talking to the boy about gay details.

He wouldn't, though, because he didn't know anyone else here and he was afraid of losing Lance.

“So, how'd you and Lance meet?” Romelle asked. She took a drink from her cup of punch. Keith was pretty sure it was spiked. He leaned against the wall. “We're in club together, and we live next door to each other. We just kinda grew up together, and then one day I was over at his house and he kisses me.”

“Were you expecting it?” Romelle said, her eyes wide and curious. Keith was glad that he and Lance had made up their backstory together, otherwise he'd be improvising the shit out of this conversation and probably get himself and Lance caught. Keith didn't want to be the reason their fake relationship ended. Even though he knew it wasn't real, he still wanted it to last.

“No, but I'd started crushing on him a few weeks before so it wasn't like he had to seduce me or anything. He tried to, of course, because he's Lance and that's what he does.” Keith said, and he smiled a little, looking over at Lance and wondering what it would be like if Lance actually did try to seduce him. Keith probably would have hated it, because he hated when Lance pretended to be something he wasn't. Lance was suave sometimes, but he was also an endearing little dork and that version of Lance was the one that Keith liked best. “I saw through it, though, and I told him that if he wanted to be my boyfriend, all he had to do was ask me out.”

“I'm assuming he did.” Romelle said. Keith nodded. “Yeah. I think he's really into me,”(I wish he was even a little bit into me) “considering how long we've been together.”

“Hey, if you make it through tomorrow, you're the longest one yet.” Romelle said, tilting her cup up towards him. If only she knew how wrong she was. Keith let out a laugh anyway. “Yeah. At least I have that to look forward to. That, and seeing him in a suit.”

“Ooh, you've got a thing for men in suits.” Romelle said. She was smirking up at him. Keith ducked his head. “Yeah. Who doesn't, though?”

“True. But have you considered women in suits?” Romelle countered. Keith, having been in public school for his life, completely missed the fact that she was a popular girl talking about other girls being attractive, and immediately jumped to, “not really. I'm gay.”

“I'm bi.” Romelle said. She took another sip of her drink. “Your friend Allura helped me figure that out last year.”

Keith snorted. So Allura really was a magical lesbian. Romelle had to be a cheerleader, then, if Allura had been the one to turn her bisexual.

“She's kinda hot, and I'm still a little into her.” Romelle said. She cut her eyes over to Lance and Bandor. “Boys are nothing but assholes and Allura seems badass. I've never dated a girl before; I think she'd be a good girlfriend.”

“I don't know her relationship status, but I'll let her know if I figure it out?” Keith lied. He figured that Romelle would want to know, otherwise why would she be telling Keith all of this. 

Lance reappeared, and Bandor was nowhere to be seen. He loosely wound his arms around Keith's neck and pulled him down for a kiss.  Not knowing why Lance decided a make out was necessary (but definitely not going to question it), Keith kissed back, his hands on Lance's waist, pulling him.  He let go of Lance, pressed a short kiss to his lips, and pulled back. “Hey. You miss me while you were protecting my honor?”

“I'm always missing you.” Lance said like it was some little couple thing they had. He rubbed his thumb across Keith's cheek before letting go of him. “Are you making friends without me?”

“Yeah. Lance, this is Romelle.” Keith removed a hand from Lance's waist to motion to Romelle, who looked like Lance and Keith's coupley antics were amusing. “And Romelle, this is Lance.”

“I know Lance.” Romelle said. Lance stopped pretending to be in love with Keith to look over at her. When he did, his eyes went wide. “Ooh! You're the girl with the long ass last name in drama! The cheerleader!”

“You're the guy with nice hair in drama! The space geek!” She shouted back, slightly sarcastic with a grin on her face. Lance stuck his tongue out at her, but it was obvious that there was no real animosity between the two of them. Lance grabbed Keith's hand and interlaced their fingers together. “Keith, I know Romelle. She's super cool; we've been in the same drama class since ninth grade. She got the female lead last spring and did fucking incredible.”

“Should I be worried that he's going to leave me for you?” Keith asked. Romelle shook her head. “Not at all. Lance's had a crush on you since forever.”

Keith screamed. Internally, of course, because he wasn't weird and he didn't start screaming in public for no apparent reason. Why would Romelle think that Lance had a crush on him? Lance didn’t like Keith, unless he did, and if he did, why was he dating everyone else in the school besides Keith? Keith had fucked up. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact thing he did to fuck up, but he had, and now he was stuck in a double-pining clusterfuck full of miscommunications. There was no way to tell Lance that his feelings for Keith were returned without Lance assuming that Keith was just acting, and Keith wouldn’t have time to tell Lance before prom and the dramatic breakup.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Oh my God, I said I had a cute best friend one time, Romelle. Don’t try and embarrass me.”

“You said Keith was cute more than once.” Romelle said, and she was really getting into it, like it was now her job to embarrass Lance. Keith’s chest was constricting painfully and he needed to breathe for about ten minutes before he could do anything else. Romelle took another drink from her cup and said, “I think you said he was hot once, but that was when we all got stoned before dress rehearsal so I could be making that up.”

Keith turned to Lance. “You thought I was hot?”

“I was stoned, it didn’t count.” Lance said, and then leaned up on his tiptoes to kiss the end of Keith’s nose. “I think you’re hot now, though, so that’s all that matters.”

“Yeah,” Keith breathed out, because his mind and his mouth weren’t very well connected at that moment so he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be saying. He and Lance hadn’t come up with a script for this situation, where someone brought up any of Lance’s stoned (or drunk, whatever) ramblings that only happened because he was stoned (or drunk). Lance was right saying that anything he said while stoned didn’t count, because Lance and Hunk were those affectionate stoners. Pidge was giggly, and Matt turned into a sage old grandpa, spewing out wisdom that didn’t make sense when sober. Keith hadn’t seen any of his other friends stoned so he didn’t know what they were like.

Keith tipped Lance’s chin up and kissed him on the lips. He pulled back, barely, and spoke against Lance’s mouth. 

He went home that night happier than he’d ever been after a high school party.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey pals this is 100% a filler chapter, but ya know, i had fun writing it

Getting ready for prom was stressful when Keith actually wanted to impress someone and wasn’t just going so that he could hang out with his friends and not have a curfew. Shiro kept trying to style his hair, but he was slicking it back so severely that he looked like a guy from the 1910s. Keith wasn’t meant to be a guy from the 1910s. He was too gay for that, and besides, he didn’t wear suspenders even though Lance was confident that he had a pair somewhere in his closet.  

“Shiro, stop, I look dumb.” Keith said, batting his hands away from his head. He frowned up at him, a bottle of hairspray in one hand and a comb in the other. “You look sharp, Keith.”

“We have different definitions of sharp.” Keith said. Shiro frowned harder but Keith wasn’t going to give in. He wasn’t going to show up to prom with dumb hair, because he didn’t want to embarrass himself (or Lance) in front of the entire school. He was probably going to be embarrassed anyway, because of the sheer amount of gayness the club was about to create, but if he was going to be embarrassed by it all, he wanted to at least look good.

He hugged Shiro and Adam and then grabbed his suit jacket from the edge of his bed. “I’m going to head over to Lance’s. I’ll text you when it’s over.”

“Don’t be out too late.” He said to him, and Keith nodded (even though he would probably be out really late) and left. Lance’s back door was open and Keith let himself in, closing it behind him. He found Lance, Allura, and one of the Holt siblings sitting in the living room, along with an uncomfortable looking blonde guy that Keith recognized from somewhere. The blonde was sitting next to Allura, who was in a fancy pantsuit complete with a sash and holding a mug of coffee in her hands while talking to Lance. Pidge was leaned against the arm of the couch, their socked feet tucked under Lance’s thigh. They were texting. Lance was sitting on a separate chair, talking animatedly to Allura.

“Am I early?” Keith asked from the far side of the room. Lance looked up at him. Lance looked like sex on well-toned legs. He beamed up at Keith. “Nope. We’re waiting on Nyma and Beezer to get here and then I’m going to help them with their makeup.”

“Okay, cool.” Keith said. “I don’t know how to do makeup.”

“I know babe, that’s why I’m doing it.” Lance said, stretching out his legs and looking even more perfect than before. He gestured to the blonde boy. “This is Lotor, by the way. He’s head of the FCA and Allura’s date. Lotor, this is Keith, my boyfriend.”

“Hey.” Keith said, as Lotor’s eyes went wide with recognition. And then, of course, Keith remembered where he knew Lotor from: youth group. Keith had a sudden urge to grab Allura and run away with her because Lotor was not the most accepting guy in the world and Allura was pretty gay. Keith had no idea how to tell Allura (or Lance or Pidge) about Lotor without outing Allura or making things really awkward. He just had to hope that Lotor wouldn't be a complete asshole or try anything with Allura.

Lotor was still staring at Keith. “I didn't know you were gay. How can you go to church if you're gay?”

From behind his phone, Pidge rolled their eyes. Allura did the exact same thing. “Surprisingly enough, the Bible is ambiguous and up for interpretation about a lot of things, including whether or not gay people are loved by God. I'd give you an entire fucking essay on why you're wrong, but I'm trying to enjoy my prom without any issues.”

Well damn. Keith had forgotten that Allura knew how to sass someone for being a dick. Maybe Keith should be grabbing Lotor and running away with him before Allura handed Lotor's ass to him. Keith immediately shot down that idea. Lotor deserved getting his ass handed to him, especially if it was by Allura, the school’s first gay prom queen.

Keith sat down next to Lance, letting Lance rest his hand on his thigh because they were boyfriends in Lotor’s mind and if anyone deserved getting grossed out by sheer amounts of gay it would have to be Lotor. Keith put his hand on top of Lance's and squeezed gently. “Do you know when Nyma and Beezer are supposed to be here?”

“Soon.” Lance said, kissing Keith's cheek.

“So, uh, are Nyma and Beezer your friends?” Lotor asked. Allura nodded.

“Nyma is also the beautiful girlfriend of the queen of the gays.” Lance added. Lotor stared at Lance like Lance was speaking a different language. Keith was enjoying this far more than he should have been. Lance silently dared Lotor to say something rude and Lotor struggled to understand what Lance had just said. Apparently Lotor was one of the people who thought that only men could be gay because only men were sexual beings. Jokes on you, Lotor, Keith thought, Allura’s a girl and she’s probably had more relationships than almost everyone in this room.  

Lance’s doorbell rang before Lotor could come up with any kind of comment. Lance stood up, kissing Keith. “That’s them. I’ll be right back.”

Sure enough, Nyma and Beezer were at the door, in their dresses and holding bags of makeup. Lance looked far too excited about getting to do the girls’ makeup. He dragged them all upstairs to his bathroom (which was big and nice and had a tub; Keith was a little jealous of the tub) and started pulling out brushes and curling irons. He rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and turned to the three. “Alright, who wants to go first?”

“Nyma’s the date of the queen.” Beezer said. “She’s got to go first.”

“Fuck you, Bee.” Nyma said, rolling her eyes, but she moved over and sat on the edge of the counter. It was weird seeing Nyma without any kind of makeup, because she usually had on red lipstick and some kind of eye makeup, but she was a blank canvas for Lance to go wild on. She tucked her long bangs back behind her ears and looked up at Lance. “Don’t fuck this up, Lance. I have to go out in front of a bunch of people I don’t know and I want them to know that I’m not to be fucked with.”

“So, a more dramatic version of your usual look?” Lance asked, shuffling through her makeup. Nyma shrugged. “Sure. You’re the makeup guru apparently.”

“I learned from the best.” Lance said. “Now sit still and let me do my thing.”

Lance was really good with hair and makeup, and he even touched up Keith’s and Lotor’s hair (Pidge refused to let Lance touch their head) before they all left to get dinner. The restaurant was full of high school kids dressed in nice clothes, but the club got automatic reservations since Hunk was the son of the owner.

Hunk, Matt, Rizavi, and Leifsdottir were already at the table in the back, the one conveniently located away from all the noise of the front of the restaurant. Lance looped his arm around Keith’s waist. “Benefits of being friends of the owners, am I right?”

“You’d be such a dick if you were famous, wouldn’t you?” Keith said back, but kissed Lance because Lotor was watching them and because he wanted to kiss Lance anyway. The two of them ended up at one end of the table, with Keith next to Rizavi and Lance next to Matt. Pidge and Beezer immediately became the gross domestic couple that everyone knew they were, and Matt rolled their eyes at his sibling and his girlfriend. Hunk pressed his spoon against his lower lip. “So, ‘Llura, who's the arm candy?”

“Lotor, he's a friend of one of the other girls on the court.” Allura said, “He’s not actually my for real date, though. That honor goes to the lovely Nyma.”

The aforementioned girl smiled and looked down at her lap.

“Oh, hey, Kinkade and Griffin are here!” Matt said. 

The group waved at them. Kinkade and Griffin had shown up, dressed in suits and looking awkward (because of the suits) and holding hands as they took the last pair of chairs. There were more club members going to prom, but Hunk’s parents couldn’t just rent out their restaurant to the club and no one else. That, and Lance said he wanted the band to spread the gay around as much as they could.

A girl with her red hair in a tight bun came up and took their orders, complimenting everyone on how they looked. 

“So, did you two come as dates?” Lotor asked, guestering to Kinkade and Griffin after everyone’s food had been served.

Kinkade nodded, but added, “I don’t normally date, though. I do, however, fly a badass plane. Griffin is just being a good friend, and taking me to my last prom.”

“You don’t date… at all?” Lotor asked to clarify. Kinkade nodded again. “Yeah, I’m aro-ace. It means I don’t feel romantic or sexual attraction. It’s pretty great. I don’t have to deal with a lot of the drama that my friends deal with.”

Lotor frowned. Kinkade just went back to his dinner, which was vegan and actually called ‘the Ryan special’ because Hunk’s dad felt bad for not having any vegan options and had asked Kinkade for recommendations. It wasn’t exactly what he had come up with, but it looked pretty cool. Keith wasn’t sure what was in it, but he wanted to try it one day. When he wasn’t about to go dance for four hours, in case veganism wasn’t for him and his stomach went fuck those vegetables and gave up on him.

Other than Lotor knowing absolutely nothing about the gay community (not that Keith had expected anything else from him), dinner was fine. All the couples, real and fake, and excluding Lotor and Allura, were grossly domestic and very gay. The food was good because it was a great restaurant and the food was always good there. Lance tried to pay for Keith’s dinner and Keith almost stabbed him with his fork because ‘just because Keith didn’t have a lot of money to spend on his own didn’t mean he couldn’t pay for his fucking meal, Lance.’ Allura let Lotor pay for her meal but Keith was pretty sure that was out of spite.

Hunk’s dad appeared out of nowhere as they were all leaving, dressed up in a chef’s outfit and holding a camera. A real polaroid camera. Keith loved Hunk’s family. They were fucking great. Hunk buried his face in his hands as his dad got everyone to stand together and pose. “Oh my God, Dad, no.”

“It’s prom, Hunk, I’m obligated to take as many pictures of you and your friends as I can.” He said. “Now put your arm around Matt and pretend that you’re actually in love with him.”

“I’m disowning myself.” Hunk said, and put his arm around Matt’s shoulders. Matt wrapped his arms around Hunk’s waist and proceeded to flutter his eyelashes and make kissy faces at Hunk. Hunk shoved Matt’s face away, both of them laughing anyway. Matt kept his arms around Hunk, but faced the camera, grinning as wide as he could. Keith and Lance leaned against each other, both flashing peace signs, and Nyma and Allura were doing a bad prom pose. Rizavi (who apparently had superhuman strength) lifted Leifsdottir off the ground, while Kinkade covered both of Griffin’s eyes.  Pidge pretended to propose to Beezer. Lotor stood awkwardly on the edge. It was exactly the kind of picture that Keith had been expecting, and Hunk’s dad seemed to approve.

“Alright, thanks for putting up with me.” He said, waving the polaroid out. “Now go and have fun, and don’t do anything too stupid.”

“I’m going to prom with Matt, Dad. I’ve already done something stupid.” Hunk said. Matt elbowed him. “Fuck you.”

“Nah.” Hunk said. “I think I'll keep my girlfriend instead.”

“Wait, he has a girlfriend? Then why is he going to prom with Matt?” Keith heard Lotor ask Allura. Allura patted him on the cheek. “Oh, honey, you have so much to learn.”


	12. Chapter 12

The gym was decorated to look like a sparkly underwater paradise, because the theme was Under the Sea for some reason. Keith took Lance's arm and the two of them walked through the glittery pastel streamers and into the dance floor. The music was loud and top 40, and there were rainbow flashing lights coming from the DJ station on the side of the gym. There was a mob of people in front of the DJ, dancing and grinding on each other as high schoolers tended to do. There were also tons of people over by the refreshments, which made Keith think that the punch had already been spiked. Impressive, considering that the dance had only been going for about thirty minutes.

“Wanna dance, pretty boy?” Lance shouted over the music, a smirk on his face. He was gorgeous. There was no way Keith could say no, and so that was how he found himself in a throng of people, jumping up and down while chest to chest with Lance.

Rizavi showed up in the mess of people eventually, eyeliner applied thickly and with a bored looking Leifsdottir in tow. Leifsdottir had mussed hair, and Rizavi’s lipstick was messed up. Keith figured they'd been making out in the bathroom. Rizavi was just as enthusiastic as Lance, if not more, but what surprised Keith the most was that Leifsdottir was into the dancing as well, jumping and moving with Rizavi.

Lance pulled Keith in close, pressing his face into Keith’s neck. It was kind of hot. Keith tried to think about things that were not Lance related at all, like Allura stepping on Lotor’s feet with the heels of her shoes, then profusely apologizing.  But Lance was persistent, tugging at the ends of Keith’s hair and whispering in his ear to “play along, Keith, we’re supposed to be gay teenagers but you look like you’re being held hostage.”

Keith grabbed Lance’s jaw and pulled him up for a kiss while splaying his other hand across Lance’s lower back. After they parted the kiss, Keith kept his  pressed against Lance’s. “I am being held hostage, in a way. This was your idea, and I’m not really out yet--I mean, I will be after this is over, but I wasn’t before. This whole being gay in public thing is new to me, and it’s especially weird because we’re not actually dating.”

Something shifted in Lance’s face, and then he was staring straight at Keith, big brown eyes looking shy and innocent for once in his life. “Keith, about that. I was thinking that after this--”

Whatever Lance was going to tell Keith got cut off by the music suddenly getting really loud and spotlights coming up over the DJ station. Lance pulled back from Keith, leaving significant space between them, and Keith wondered if he had been doing something wrong this entire time and Lance had just been looking for a way out. Keith placed his hands in his pocket and watched as the student council president came out and re-announced the prom court, up to the senior class princesses and the queen. When he announced Allura’s name, she came up on stage with Nyma on her arm and Nyma gestured for her to take the microphone.

The student council president grinned out to the crowd. “And now, our prom queen will make a short speech, as is customary. Allura, the floor is yours.”

Allura let go of Nyma and stepped forward. She looked stunning but sharp, like she was hiding a sword in her pantsuit, and knives in the toes of her shoes. She took the mic from the student council president and flicked her hair from her face. “Hi. I’m Allura, as we established already, and I didn’t plan to become prom queen. I haven’t been waiting my whole life for this moment, and I didn’t really plan a speech. What I did plan was a revolution, kind of. I didn’t plan it on my own, though, and I didn’t plan it against the teachers, or the staff or the school board who keep giving us tests. I planned it against some of you.”

A gasp went out throughout the crowd. Allura glanced over at Lance and Keith and then continued. “I’m gay. It’s not a big secret, since I came up here with my girlfriend and I’m the reason that last year’s cheer squad was gay as shi--really gay. I’m lucky, because no one’s thrown me into a locker, or kicked me out of their friend group, or beaten me up because of my sexuality. I’m even lucky enough that the guy who came as my date tonight was nice.  Sure he didn’t really know what was going on, but he accepted that and didn’t try to change me. My friends aren’t as lucky, some of their families don’t support them. Some of  _ you _ , don’t support us, and I’m going to use this five minute bullshit platform to say this: if you want to hurt someone for being gay, or whatever the fuck else you have a problem with, you come through me. You come through me, and then you come through the cheer squad because they are still my friends and they will back me. You come through me, and then you come through the club--we’ve got some heavy ass equipment we can use as weapons--then you sit back and think about your life. Because here’s the thing: there is nothing wrong with me liking another girl. There is nothing wrong with a guy liking another guy, and it’s none of your business anyway.”

She had been scanning the crowd as she spoke, eyes narrowed and dangerous, like she was about to pull out her theoretical sword and go off. As she finished, though, she was staring straight at Keith and he felt like Allura was pulling all of his secrets out of him. “And to anyone out there who is closeted, or pinning on a crush they think they’ll never have a chance with: go for it. Be yourself, ask that person out  _ for real _ , punch your bully in the face. It’s prom, and it’s the best shot you’ll get at making this year memorable.”

Allura dropped the mic to the floor and it made a lot of ugly noise as she walked off the stage, taking Nyma’s arm and disappearing into the crowd. Keith could still see her, though, and she looked back at him as she mingled in with the other princesses. She nodded to him, and Keith knew it. That last part of her speech had been a direct demand.

Keith turned around to get Lance’s attention, but Lance was gone. Keith frowned. “Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall we're almost at the end :( only one or two parts left and im emo about it, but the story must come to a close
> 
> also sorry 100000X that this part is o short, but i just really really want to get to the climax!!!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST PART LAST PART LAST PART LAST PART

Lance was well and truly fucked, and it wasn’t in the fun way where he was bruised all over and felt great. No, he was an idiot, and in love with his best friend, who he was fake dating and had almost confessed his feelings to. At prom, because Lance’s timing was incredible. He had fled immediately afterwards, embarrassed and panicking and just generally regretting all of his life choices that had led him to this point in his life. He needed an out, because he didn't want to fuck up his friendship with Keith and he knew that coming clean about his feelings would do that.

Lance had never been able to act cool and collected around people he actually liked. If he found someone attractive, he could flirt with them and get them to think he liked them, but only if he didn't have any romantic feelings for them. It had been like that with Keith at summer drama camp in middle school, and it was like that _now_ with Keith. Lance was not as suave as he appeared. He was actually a huge fucking idiot who ran away from his feelings and just hoped that the other person involved would do something first.

So far, Keith hadn't done anything. He had also made it obvious that even though he was gay, he wasn't gay for Lance and had no interest in a real relationship. That meant that Lance needed to move on, and fast, before anyone could realize that he was crushing on Keith and make things awkward.

Lance was currently hiding in the guy's bathroom and hoping no one would come looking for him. He hoped everyone would be too busy with their other friends to come looking for him. He hoped that Keith would be too busy with his other friends.

There was a loud slamming noise, and Lance realized that he was no longer alone in the bathroom.  

“Lance? Are you in here?” That was Keith’s voice. Lance wanted to scream at him to get the fuck out immediately, but he couldn’t say anything because he was kind of trying to hide from Keith. But at the same time… Lance didn’t want to be alone.

Eventually, Keith left, probably guessing that Lance wouldn’t be hanging around in a bathroom alone.  He was wrong

Letting out a deep breath, Lance relaxed.

Then the door to the stall he was in slammed open and Allura stood there in all her queenly glory. 

“Ha! Keith said you weren’t in here, but I know you, and I know that you would be the one to go for a cliche and hid in the bathroom from the guy trying to tell you he likes you.”

“Keith likes me?” Lance said, not believing the words even as they came out of his mouth

“Yes. He likes you. He was trying to find you to tell you that he liked you, and then you couldn’t even say anything. You massive loser,” She ruffled his hair and pulled him out of the stall.

“Go find him.”

Lance ended up half-heartedly searching (more like hiding because he was not ready to face Keith and actually admit to anything) before literally running away from his feelings and going home.

______________________________________________________________________________

Lance stood at Keith’s back door. He knocked and could hear Keith’s dog barking, followed by Keith barking back at the dog. Keith was a dork. Lance smiled a little, thinking about Keith. There were a few more barks exchanged between Keith and his dog, and then Lance heard the sound of a door unlocking and he was face to face with Keith.

Keith’s hair was mussed and he was in a tank top and sweatpants. He looked like he had been up for a while, but hadn’t planned on doing anything to make himself look presentable. Lance was okay with that; it made Keith seem less intimidating. He was still unexplainably pretty, and Lance was a little distracted by him. Keith’s eyes widened when he realized Lance was at his door, and Lance opened his mouth to say something. Keith didn’t give him the chance.

“It’s okay, nobody even cared that I was alone for the rest of the night.”

“I don’t care about them.” Lance said. “I just care about you, and I let you down.”

“But you didn’t.” Keith said.

“But I did. If I were a better person, I would have been able to talk to you.”

“Lance.” Keith said, because he needed to just be blunt and get his point across. “You don’t need to be a better person. You’re great the way you are, and I’m very okay with calling you my friend.”

“Really?” Lance asked, looking like he still wasn’t believing what Keith was saying. “You still want to be my friend? After all the shit I put you through, with the fake dating and the scary exes and leaving you alone at prom?”

Keith shrugged, and his heart skipped a beat as he decided to just fucking go for it. “Yeah. The fake dating was pretty great, actually.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. Keith was so nervous he felt like he was going to throw up a little. He didn’t. He gave Lance a little smile and asked, “Do you wanna do it for real this time?”

“Date you?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah.”

“Yeah.” Lance breathed out. “Yeah, I do.”

He pushed Keith into his house, leaving the door open and letting the dog out into the backyard on accident. Lance pressed his lips to Keith’s, and Keith kissed back, placing his left hand on Lance’s waist. Lance pulled them closer, moving his face a little so they were kissing. After pulling away, the two boys made eye contact again, and Lance broke out into a grin. “You’re my boyfriend.”

“That I am.” Keith said, smiling back as well. “We’re going to have to be kind of quiet about it, though, because I’m not sure I’m ready for Shiro and Adam to know yet.”

“I’m okay with that.” Lance said. He leaned up and kissed Keith’s cheek. “I don’t mind keeping quiet.  But I think they already know, buddy.”

Keith smirked, “I’m not ready to deal with them prying into our relationship yet.  I want it to be just ours.”

“So, we’ll keep quiet then.”

“Oh, no, we’re not going to be completely quiet, Lance.” Keith said. Lance raised an eyebrow, and Keith kissed his. “The club’s gonna know. We’re going to be the obnoxious gay couple that everyone secretly hates.”

“They can kiss our asses.” Lance said, and let out a laugh. He looked happy. Keith hoped he looked happy as well, because he sure as hell felt happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okok in all seriousness, i want to thank all of yall for reading this, you have no idea what it means to me. this is the very first project that I've ever finished, and i cant believe that anyone would even want to read what i write. i love every single one of you so so so so much and am thankful for yall :) 
> 
> came yell at me on tumblr @rabrooks34 i would love 2 b ur friend


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